Ignorant Movie Review:  Half Nelson

Response to title:  I really hope this is a play on words and not a Wrestlementary.

Response to curbside poster:  It looks like some sort of movie about a teacher.  Maybe the teacher's name is Nelson?  There's a person staring through the window, so...some sort of metaphor about being on the outside looking in (like a theater audience)?

Response post-credits:  This movie strikes me as addressing the theme of duality through examining oppositions, balances and the ground in between.  The teacher is a Gen X white male History teacher working in (I assume) an inner city public school whose students are predominately people of color.   A classic (and I would argue racist) white teacher & person of color student Hollywood representation can be found in Finding Forrester; Half Nelson is not the classic Hollywood representation.  The movie regularly reverses the Finding Forrester archetypes (the teacher has the drug problem, the teacher doesn't appear to work very hard, the teacher is often at a loss, etc.) and explicity (as well as aesthetically) addresses the Taoist principle:  inclusive = different.  The acting all around hovers somewhere between damn good and great with absolutely excellent performances coming from the two main characters (student & teacher).  I've heard that kids are notoriously difficult to get high quality performances out of, but this movie certainly leads one to believe otherwise.

Rating:  3.89 ouf of 5 Oly Stubbies.

Film Haiku:  Children teach us all
             "one thing doesn't make a man."
                 What, we wonder, does?

Can be seen:  Olympia Film Society
                          206 5th Ave N
                      Olympia, WA  98501

             Wednesday, October 4th, 6:30pm
                 Thursday, October 5th, 9pm