In any society there will always be people who are different from the crowd. Their life, as a rule, is an endless duel both with established rules and with oneself. In this battle, such a person will certainly win. But instead of laurels and tranquility, the winner will get despair, loneliness and even greater self-destruction. He will fall into a vicious circle, like a snake biting its tail, from which it is impossible to get out alone. They never become drunkards just like that ...
Drinking in the cinema
The topic of alcoholism is quite common in both domestic and foreign cinema. And if the Soviet and Russian cinema on this topic mainly has an episodic comedy orientation (just recall Shurik from the "Caucasian Captive"), then Western films are mainly focused on an in-depth study of this phenomenon from a personal perspective. Their alcoholics are most often creative and vulnerable people.
One can endlessly debate about drunkenness and the causes that cause it. But today our task is somewhat different - to recall those films about alcoholism that are worth watching in order to learn how to help a person who has fallen into the pool of this addiction. Even if this person is you yourself ...
For the convenience of tracking the change in the cinematic view of the voiced problem, all the tapes in this article will be presented in chronological order.
"Friend"
Our review opens one of the most controversial and strange Soviet paintings, the main character of which, performed by the wonderful actor Sergei Shakurov, is a drunken intellectual. Even now, after more than thirty years, this Soviet film about alcoholism, which was released back in 1987, is still one of the only domestic films that represent exactly the dramatic side of drunkenness.
This kind and philosophical tape tells the story of the relationship between the alcoholic Nikolai and the big black dog, who knows how to talk and responds to the name Friend. It is now unknown whether there was an accidental analogy between the creators of this film with a black cat crossing the road and being a bad omen. But as follows from the plot of this slightly sad picture, the black dog, who crossed the road to the hero, ultimately brought him faith in insight and hope for the best, showing Nikolai that life can be beautiful without alcohol ...
"Drunk"
In the same 1987, in parallel with the Soviet "Friend", the drama "Pian" was released in the USA, one of the best films about alcoholism.
The writer and poet Henry, who was completely drunk, brilliantly performed by the famous actor Mickey Rourke, who is at the very peak of his artistic career, does not literally crawl out of the bar. All his few joys that remained in his life, entangled in the incessant drunken stupor, are listening to Mozart’s radio, writing in illegible handwriting on crumpled scraps of paper, scraps of stories and poems and fighting in the evenings in street rings.
One fine day, the drunken hero of Rourke is faced with a choice - to stay with the alcoholic Wanda and his drunk friends just like him, or exchange them for an affair with the beautiful, rich and prosperous publisher Tully, who is unconditionally in love with him and his work.
However, both are an abyss for Henry's half-mad drunkard ...
"Gray mouse"
The next film about drunkenness and alcoholism again became the domestic film - the picture "The Gray Mouse", which was released in 1988.
This gloomy and hopeless drama is dedicated to an ordinary day, one of many similar days lived by rural alcoholics. Before the viewers' eyes, a picture of the real death of four already elderly people (the roles of actors Victor Solovyov, Nikolai Gusarov, Valentin Golubenko and Vitaliy Yakovlev), gathered together, as if in a kind of enchanted circle from which there is no way out to remove, as they say, appears stress. The protagonist of the film was once a successful director of the plant, but once crossed the road to higher bureaucrats, who eventually broke it and put the “Forbid” stamp on the career and the rest of the former director’s life.
After watching the Gray Mouse, it becomes very cold in my soul from the feeling that the four heroes on the screen are constantly drinking vodka, not in order to warm themselves, but in order to freeze to death ...
“When a man loves a woman”
The topic of films about female alcoholism begins with the instructive melodrama of 1994, “When a Man Loves a Woman,” starring Andy Garcia and Meg Ryan.
The picture tells the story of Alice and Michael, whose family is almost destroyed by the alcoholism of a woman. The reason for Alice's drunkenness is a certain secret, which she cannot share even with her husband, taking out all the fatigue, depression and bitterness on him. However, Michael, in spite of everything, continues to support his wife in every possible way even when she begins to drink aspirin with vodka and ends up in a rehabilitation clinic.
This film turned out to be very sad, but kind. It causes the viewers the deepest emotions and sensations, forcing them to answer their own question, could someone close to support them in such a situation ...
"Leaving Las Vegas"
This undisputed leader among feature films about alcoholism was first introduced to viewers in September 1995.
The picture is literally saturated with the atmosphere of romance and hopelessness. The main character - screenwriter Ben, brilliantly performed by Nicolas Cage, enjoys such simple and understandable things for any alcoholic as the first glass in the morning. And although his weak and miserable body was already shaking with a hangover, like jelly, he was still desperately cheerful and drunk.
And what else can he do when his whole life turned into a nightmare? When, due to constant binges, the whole career was completely destroyed and not a single loved one was left nearby? Is it worth it to get drunk to death in the beautiful and vicious Las Vegas?
In order to get accustomed to the image of the protagonist as much as possible, Nicolas Cage had to temporarily become a real alcoholic and even visit specialized clinics. His works were not in vain - in 1996, the actor was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor.
"Without restraint"
In 2001, this film about teenage alcoholism won the Venice Film Festival, receiving a special award from the jury "Cinema of the Present", as well as a prize from the International Federation of Film Presses.
The picture tells about one of the sultry days of fifteen-year-old David, whose role was played by an unknown young actor Pierre-Louis Bonnblanc, the day on which he first got drunk. Addicted to alcohol, he wandered the deserted suburbs of one of the farms, until under the influence of the sun and a drunken change of mood he fell into aggression, which pushed him to an absurd and terrible act.
The film is a black-and-white pseudo-documentary cinema, giving even greater irrationality to the alcoholic visions of the protagonist shown to the audience, so desperate to grow up ...
Bad Santa
The next in the list of outstanding films about alcoholism was the picture of 2003 "Bad Santa", which is a comedy with a happy ending. The film was produced by the famous Coen brothers, and the unfortunate and lone burglar drunkard Willy was played by the famous actor Billy Bob Thornton, who showed all his character’s alcoholic misfortunes so amazingly that he was even nominated for the Golden Globe film award for best comedy role.
Sullen, angry and unbearable drunkard Willy worked in the supermarket kind Santa Claus. Needless to say, Santa from Willy turned out to be so-so, until one unpleasant boy intervened in his hopeless life one day ...
"Julia"
One of the most memorable films about alcoholism among women, which cannot be ignored, was the dramatic thriller "Julia", which was released in 2008. The main role was played by the famous Tilda Swinton, who got the unexpected image of a far from young red-haired alcoholic who, despite her age, continued to wear ridiculously short skirts and defiantly painted.
The heroine of Tilda Swinton will soon be fifty. She's a failure, and all she has is debt and alcohol. Julia’s life lies somewhere between never-ending drunken parties and the beds of strangers. When the limit comes in her soul, she thoughtlessly agrees to a risky adventure that threatens to develop into a real catastrophe.
Despite the general hopeless atmosphere, which remains a stain in the memory of the viewer, the picture still has a life-affirming ending ...
"Crew"
This 2012 film has a special place among films about alcoholism. Its famous director Robert Zemeckis, who presented the world with many masterpieces of cinema, among which his works such as Forrest Gump, Outcast, Living Steel and Back to the Future, gained the most popularity and love from the audience, set the world audience absolutely unexpected question: what would happen if the hero were sober?
Indeed, what is happening on the screen can surprise anyone. The main character of the film, pilot Will, performed by Denzel Washington, is an alcoholic. And so deep that he drinks alcohol and cocaine even immediately before the ill-fated departure.
When an accident occurs during the flight, the pilot, who continues to be intoxicated and intoxicated, makes a decision that he would not even have come to his mind if he had been sober — to turn the plane upside down and put it in the water. And surprisingly, he succeeded. Will saved almost all the passengers and instantly became a hero. But not for long, because immediately after the congratulations and thanks of the surviving passengers, an official investigation began and clarification of the causes of the accident, very soon turned into a real trial ...
"Geographer drank the globe"
The final in the review of feature films about alcoholism was this Russian picture of 2013, based on the novel of the same name by Alexei Ivanov. The place of its action was the cold autumn Perm of the 90s, which is a symbolic image of a deaf and impoverished domestic province in which nothing ever happens. The phrase “Happiness is just around the corner” laid out on the embankment in capital letters looks rather mockingly at the general freezing background.
The protagonist of the film, Victor, whose role was played by the wonderful actor Konstantin Khabensky, entered a period of midlife crisis and drinks ... His inner world is too large and multifaceted for the habitat in which he has to live.
By his age, he never achieved anything. He is constantly sawed by his wife, forcing him to eventually go to work in school as a geography teacher. Victor continues to drink at school. Everyone drinks, even his students, with whom he goes camping. Drink all who are still trying to find at least some sense in this life.
But alcohol is just a backdrop to the main idea of the picture, which is nothing more than love ...
Instead of an afterword
By and large, the films considered in this article are albeit very reliable, but still fiction. And our review would not be complete without a concluding point - the old Soviet documentary about female alcoholism "Beyond the Threshold", filmed by Sverdlovsk television in 1978.
Despite the fact that more than forty years have passed since its inception, this film can only be watched on the Internet. “Beyond the threshold” is the other side of our lives. Real and scary scorching. Exactly the same as the filmmakers saw her during the filming of women in the detoxification centers of the city of Sverdlovsk ...