Film: Flight
Review: The first 15 minutes of this film has you locked in! A passenger plane quickly facing the an inevitable plane crash. I’m sure many of you have had a nightmare on two about being involved in the plane crash. I felt a bit of fear while watching this enormous passenger jet falling apart on the screen. Even more disturbing was watching the lead Pilot played by Denzel Washington consume 3 small bottles of vodka. You know it’s a movie but for some reason you are infuriated to watch a Pilot knowingly consume alcohol while operating a plane carrying 102 souls on board. Denzel Washington’s character “Whip” has a drinking problem times 10. He’s an, uncaring, dismissive, self-absorbed, straight-up drunk. The majority of film focuses on his battle with the bottle. In every scene Whip is either ordering alcohol, drinking alcohol, buying alcohol, or pouring alcohol. It got to a point in the movie where I became physically uncomfortable watching how much booze this man consumed. There literally wasn’t one scene in the film that he wasn’t drinking. It was insane to watch. You get the sense that Director really wanted to hammer home that this man was a true blue alcoholic. Harling Mays played by John Goodman is Whip’s dealer or sorts. He’s also the comic relief in the movie, to which I was very grateful for. This film is a heavy subject matter. It was nice to have a few laughs.
This movie is a must see! Denzel rarely disappoints. He always brings his “A” game when gracing the silver screen. Washington did a stellar job! His character takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. One minute you sympathize with him, one minute you hate him, and then you feel indifferent towards him. It’s that feeling of indifference that haunts me. I’ve been an observer of a loved ones whose life was destroyed by alcohol. I’m ashamed to say that this movie opened my eyes on the awful reality of alcoholism. I left the theater feeling a bit guilty. Up until recently I really never viewed alcoholism as a real disease. Alcoholism is something I always defined as self-inflicted. Sometimes it is self-inflicted but does that excuse me from showing some compassion. I have a new-found empathy for those that struggle with alcoholism and desire help.
Best Line in the Movie: “It’s funny how clear things are when you’re closer to death”
