[Marxism] A Marxist Movie: "Half Nelson"

[Jay Moore]

I've been bed-ridden more or less for a couple of weeks with a pulmonary 
"croup" that's been hard to dislodge.  Consequently, I have been 
watching more movies than usual, with a laptop propped up on my chest.  
Netflix, based on their data-gathering formulas, had recommended a 
certain indy-produced movie called "Half Nelson."  So I watched it.  It 
was indeed a good choice.  Maybe "Big Brother" is not really all that 
bad after all. :-)  Anyway, I think others on this List mights like to 
see it and comment on it.  Louis?  I know you're a big movie guy.  
Basically, "Half Nelson" is set in a gritty neighborhood of NYC at a 
black high school.  The "hero" is a young white history teacher who 
tries to explain history -- and his students get it -- dialectically as 
the struggle of opposites and going in spirals, not circles.  He's got a 
bunch of personal "issues" related to depression and drug abuse which 
his (platonic) friendship with a 13-year old black girl helps him to 
begin to address through a personal and political dialectic of sorts.  
The movie makers have also inserted historical clips from things like 
the Attica Rebellion and the assassination of Harvey Milk.  They seem to 
be quite smartly Marxist in their thinking.  I was very taken by it.  
Anyway, just a tip if you need a movie for the weekend, or sometime.  
See what you think. 

jay