Half Nelson

Merriam-Webster defines the term half nelson as “a wrestling hold in which the holder puts an arm under the opponent's arm and exerts press on the back of the neck." One of the main purposes of this hold is to exert total control over your opponent and make them feel as if there is no way out.

This idea of complete immobilization is what I believe to be the focal point of Ryan Fleck’s remarkable new film “Half Nelson" in which a middle-school teacher forms an unlikely bond with a student as his life continues a downward spiral into a world full of drugs, depression, and disappointment.

Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) spends his days enlightening inner-city kids on such topics as Martin Luther King Jr. and the Attica prison riot as if his life were going exactly the way he imagined.

Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth. As soon as the bell rings, he instantly becomes a desperate junkie looking for his daily fix of crack cocaine. For the most part, he has been able to effectively hide his addiction from his family and school, but it becomes quite apparent as he continues to use. One day after a basketball game, a student walks into the bathroom to find him lying on the floor and utterly incapacitated, but isn’t quite sure what to think.

When he finally gets up, he agrees to give her a ride home and a unique friendship is formed that will later take on even more meaning. Since the pace of the film can seem quite dull at times, the performances of Gosling and newcomer Shareeka Epps have to be that much more powerful because of it. In undoubtedly the finest performance of his career, Gosling delivers a stunning portrayal of Dunne and makes sure that every note of this film rings true to its audience. He creates a fascinating portrait of drug addiction and shows just how much your life can be consumed by such a dangerous substance.

Epps’s performance is also Oscar-worthy as the student who befriends Dunne and finds out that not everyone is as perfect as they seem. A scene I found to be particularly poignant is one in which Dan is having dinner with his parents and all he can think about is getting home to his crack pipe.

This, I feel is where the title comes in, because no matter how hard he tries to free himself, there is ultimately no way out. “Half Nelson" is a believably engaging film that latches onto its audience and never lets up. Thanks to a brilliant screenplay by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, it is able to go above and beyond the normal expectations of the genre and become a painfully truthful story that hits you directly at the core.

- **** out of 4