Mini Review number 10 - Half Nelson

Half Nelson tells the story of a talented history teacher, trying, and succeeding to inspire the kids in the inner city school he teaches at. He is bright, young and understands that the way to get through to these children is to act as an equal, find a common ground and then can you make them rise.
His closet crack habit, however, is a self-inflicted gash. Dan leads a double life, inspiring by day but a warning at night.
What could have easily been a typical “over coming obstacles” movie that warms your heart quickly changes by the discovery of his secret by one of his students Drey (Shareeka Epps) that boosts the story to a higher place. In a wrenching scene, borne of Dan's foolish risk-taking, Drey looks on as he tries to preserve some shred of authority through his heroin haze. Her eyes tell the story, another adult she had faith in has disappointed her, but this time she didn’t expect it.
The pair negotiates their silent agreement; Drey could easily ruin him, but she's not interested. She already has her share of turbulence, with a single mother (Karen Chilton, who I expect big things from) working overtime as a paramedic and an older brother in jail.
Our hopes quickly shift to Drey, who seems the worthier of them.
Even as Dan plummets down the rutted skids of his addiction, he tries to play the white knight against Drey's drug-dealing protector, Frank, who is also his supplier. Anthony Mackie renders this role with surprising nuance, a family man whose assistance makes sense within his context, even as it risks drawing Drey to the same fate as her brother.
Ryan Gosling gives an emotionally honest performance as a young man unable to control his own life, but still trying to be a mentor to the kids he teaches. You feel the sadness in his eyes, and the disappointment in that this is what he has become.
But it's Epps who haunts, swept past the errors of her elders with a gaze that absorbs. Her entire performance is in her eyes, her hopes, her dreams and her disappointments radiate out of them even as her mouth is frozen shut. This is not an act of defiance, it is teenage protection…..don’t stand out too much…..and it makes the moments when she smiles all the more alarming.