Half Nelson (2006)

Half Nelson (2006) is a contemporary film that deals with issues of race tensions, drug abuse, and friendship. Played by Ryan Gosling, Dan Dunne is a middle school teacher and girls basketball coach who struggles with his drug addiction. Drey (Shareeka Epps) is one Dan’s student who plays basketball in the team he coaches. Drey and Dan develop a friendship after she catches Dan getting high at the school’s locker room.

The films is composed of several close ups of Dan’s face. Dan’s expressions show the deep focus of a lost man’s face who struggles with his drug problem. Dan is pale, he does not shave and he has bags under his eyes. These close ups also have a lack of space within the frame, which shows Dan’s constraint from moving forward and away from his problems. Capturing his expressing between a squeezed frame conveys the idea of his aloofness towards his surroundings.

The color palettes of Dan’s scene are almost all dull blues and yellows. These colors covey the lack of liveliness in Dan’s life. In addition, the bar scenes exposes a lot of shadows. This element highlights the dark side of his day, as he purchases drugs. Contrast to the scenes reflecting Dan’s home and night activities, however, the scenes in the classroom are very bright. The scenes show Dan interacting with the students, teaching them History through his unconventional tactics; through metaphors not textbooks. This shows Dan’s happy place; a place where he feels alive and can make a difference in the world. The mise-en-scene in the film is also enhances the effect of such transition. Dan’s apartment is messy and bland, where as the classroom is decorated with colors children’s art work.

The whole film is filmed with a handheld camera. The frames are not stable and are often shaky, which reflects the instability of the characters’ lives. This component also makes the footage look authentic, making the images of the film realistic. This element helps convey the realness of Dan’s addiction and Drey’s difficult life in the “hood” where she is pressured to sell drugs. The racial tensions created among Drey’s dealer friend and Dan are also realistically conveyed through such aesthetic.

A scene that stood out for me personally was intimate scene between Dan and another teacher from the school. The scene cuts to Drey looking at herself in mirror and applying make-up to herself. The scene cuts back to the intimate scene and back again to Drey. The juxtaposition of these images shows that Drey is developing feelings towards Dan. This becomes a powerful scene because the viewer is reminded through these images that Dan is dysfunctional and that Drey's feelings cannot go beyond a school-girl crush. I sympathized with Drey because she tries to become feminine despite her "tough-girl" attributes. She is essentially thriving towards something that will never occur.

Dan and Drey unexpectedly cross paths through an exchange of drugs; where Dan is the consumer and Drey is the supplier. The scene is powerful because the frame focuses on the characters’ reactions, which the viewer immediately feeds on. The last scene shows Dan’s apartment. This scene resembles the first shot we ever see of Dan in the film. However, the apartment is now cleaned. Dan suddenly appears and is dressed up and shaved. Drey appears in the frame and sits next to him. Without seeing the aftermath of the encounter, we are presented with images that suggest that the two friends resolved their issues with the help of each other.

Throughout the film, scenes cut to random shot of students’ descriptions of significant historical events that changed the world. These scenes convey Dan’s dream of one day making a significant change in the world and in the lives of people. Due to the realism of the story, however, Dan is only able to change Drey’s life. The title thus makes a historical reference expressing that Dan will not be like Nelson Mandela (who changed the lives of an entire country), but simply “half nelson”.