Flight (2012)

Listen! I hate flying, aeroplanes coupled with an irrational fear of heights are my greatest fear. Every time I have to fly it lands up being a journey within myself as opposed to flying to a destination. I hate the idea of my life in the hands of those huge machines, and now thanks to this movie I have to be afraid of the pilots too. Like doctors, pilots take our lives into their hands whenever they do their job and we have to trust that they are 100% in control of their responsibilities and faculties in order for us to be safe, but like us doctors and pilots are also humans with their own distractions, flaws and vices.

This movie has been on my gonna-hate-to-watch-but-have-to list for the longest time.

The basic plot of this movie centers around an alcoholic, substance-abusing airline pilot who saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner (while not a true story, the malfunction was based on an actual flight malfunction) which crashes while he is under the influence, and the investigation which follows - He Saved Them, some died, but he was drunk.

The plane going down portion of the film is harrowing, tapping right into my personal anxieties in terms of flight safety, and while this is the event around which this movie is set, the movie is also a poignant tale about substance abuse which is the central challenge our protagonist is and has been facing.

Denzel Washington is an interesting one for me, there was a time where I couldn't stand to watch him on screen, feeling his fame was overrated and benefitting from Hollywood racial guilt - I have since changed my opinion of him, and this has been because of consistent excellent films, and while I am not 100% convinced he deserved the Oscar for Training Day, I thought he was fucking brilliant in that movie. His performance as a drunkard in Flight is brilliant and earned him yet another Best Actor Oscar nod. He is supported by a superb script, special effects, Director Robert Zemeckis, great cast and particularly by a specific relationship he develops during his character arc with a recovering drug-addict brilliant portrayed by Kelly Reilly as he seeks redemption.

I caught myself berating him while he was on screen, knowing his character needed to step away from the bottle, but wouldn't - then I caught myself mid-beration as right now I am trying to quit smoking, and while I have cut down considerably and am already feeling better for it, I am struggling so, continually giving in to the resistance and smoking a half cigarette here and there. Substance abuse is a serious illness which can lead to dire consequences, and quitting smoking is not my first quitting experience, so this movie and performance speaks a language that all addicts are fluent in but continue to struggle to understand.

Flight is an excellent character drama, a must see for everyone who is not a Denzel fan (as you know Denzel fans have all seen it already!).

3 Movies down from 85th Academy Awards, and the 33nd Oscar Nominated movie watched since blog commencement. I still cannot believe how many of the movies from last year I have missed - I will say this in my defence, last year we had a one year old in control of the home life, this year it's Barney Time in the day, adult time at night :)

nuff said...