With the winter winds roaring outside, who doesn’t want to curl up on the sofa, microwave some popcorn, and watch a great movie? At Tabula Rasa Retreat, we’re focused on the fight against addiction even when relaxing on the couch with our Netflix subscription. So today we’re going to share our list of the 10 best movies that deal with addiction, alcoholism, and recovery.
10) Trainspotting
This 1996 movie based on Irvine Welsh’s popular novel deals with a group of friends in Edinburgh, Scotland, and their struggles with heroin addiction. With a star-making performance from Ewan McGregor and a phenomenal soundtrack, the movie easily earns its status as a cult classic. While some critics accused the film of glorifying drug addiction, the movie also shows the depths to which heroin sends its users, with McGregor’s character diving into “the worst toilet in Scotland” in order to retrieve an opium suppository and the tragic deaths of a few characters.
9) 28 Days
This year 2000 Sandra Bullock vehicle tells the story of a woman forced into a treatment center after a drunken car wreck. Although she initially refuses to admit that she has a problem, and refuses to take her treatment seriously, her fellow patients convince her to acknowledge her addiction and change her life. Although the movie is a little too lighthearted to fully capture the reality of treatment, it is one of the only Hollywood films to focus on recovery rather than substance abuse.
8) Half Nelson
This movie does a great job of capturing the nuances and realities of a semi-functioning addict’s life. The story, about a high school teacher (played by a young Ryan Gosling) who also smokes crack, is unique in that it explores the life of an addict with more compassion and subtlety than your standard Hollywood fare. Anchored by fantastic performances on the part of Gosling and young actress Shareeka Epps, the film is about the connections between troubled people that make difficult lives worthwhile. As Roger Ebert (a recovering alcoholic himself) beautifully wrote: “There’s no triumph, no breakthrough, no by-the-numbers victory in test scores or on the basketball court. This movie isn’t about those things, but is concerned with an even greater achievement that is generally unacknowledged: how people — flawed, miserable, frustrated people — go to work every day and find a way to care about something beyond themselves.”
7) Fix: The Story Of An Addicted City
This documentary details the health crisis and political activism that led Vancouver to adopt Harm Reduction policies and open North America’s first medically supervised safe-injection site in the early 2000s. The film focuses on Dean Wilson and Ann Livingston, activists and romantic partners united by their commitment to drug policy reform, but struggling to cope with Wilson’s addiction. The film also focuses on the efforts of Phillip Owen, the city’s conservative mayor, who became convinced that Harm Reduction could help solve the city’s notorious drug problem. A fascinating study on the personal, social, and political effects of addiction, Fix is a must-watch for anyone interested in the subject.
6) Clean And Sober
This 1988 movie is the story of a successful realtor with a heavy cocaine habit who meets a woman in a bar, uses cocaine with her, falls asleep, and wakes up to find that she’s died of a heart attack. He is shamed by the dead woman’s father, and in serious trouble at work and with the police when he hears about an anonymous, confidential drug treatment program, which he selfishly views as a refuge from his problems. Keaton’s counselor and sponsor (beautifully played by Morgan Freeman and M. Emmet Walsh) try to make him realize that the reality of his addiction is far different from the lies he’s telling himself. This movie is great because it’s focused on the difficulty so many of us have admitting that we have problems, and accepting treatment with open arms.
5) Basketball Diaries
This film, which helped launch the career of Leonardo DiCaprio, shows the descent into addiction and the degradation that it causes. While it veers into cliche at times, the breakout performance by DiCaprio lends weight and authenticity to a story that illustrates the slippery slope that can lead a disaffected youth into chemical dependence, crime, and prostitution.
4) Dr. Feelgood
A documentary about William Hurwitz, a US physician who specialized in treating chronic pain, is in many ways the story of the Opioid Epidemic. Dr. Hurwitz was eventually sentenced to 25 years in jail for over-prescribing opioids and drug trafficking. The movie does a wonderful job of tracing the origins of our current crisis, and illustrates the prescription trap, a phenomenon where legitimately prescribed pain management drugs can lead to dependence, abuse, and addiction.
3) My Name Is Bill W.
This 1989 biopic dramatizes the lives of Bill Wilson (James Woods) and Dr. Bob (James Garner). These two men would eventually found Alcoholics Anonymous and develop the 12 Step template which would have a profoundly positive effect on the lives of millions of addicted people. It’s also a fascinating look back on the way alcoholism has been viewed historically, and on the way the “disease model” changed the way society views addiction.
2) The Lost Weekend
This 1946 Oscar winning picture from director Billy Wilder is an oldie but a goodie. In a time when little was understood about addiction, Wilder created a fascinating and complex vision of a man whose struggle is misunderstood and dismissed by society, even as it threatened to consume him. Wilder was inspired by watching his writing partner on the film Double Indemnity, novelist Raymond Chandler, turn back to the bottle “after a tumultuous writing process.” The movie was so powerful that liquor industry executives offered the Paramount film studio $5 million dollars to bar its release. In spite of a trite ending, and the erasure of the homosexual undertones of the novel it’s based on, the film is an extremely perceptive exploration of addiction.
1) Requiem For A Dream
Director Darren Aronofsky is the real star of this movie, which uses innovative cinematic effects to illustrate the physical and mental nature of addiction. This movie is our winner because it conveys the way the addicted brain works with nightmarish realism. Aronofsky uses a host of cinematic techniques to give the viewer access to the addicted mind. As Ebert writes: “First we see the pills, or the fix, filling the screen, because that’s all the characters can think about. Then the injection, swallowing or sniffing–because that blots out the world. Then the pupils of their eyes dilate. All done with acute exaggeration of sounds. These sequences are done in fast-motion, to show how quickly the drugs take effect–and how disappointingly soon they fade. The in-between times edge toward desperation.”
This movie isn’t for the faint of heart, but it can give the curious a better picture of the ways addiction destroys lives than anything else we’ve seen. If addiction is having a profound effect on your life, or the life of someone you care about, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Tabula Rasa Retreat today!
For further information visit www.tabularasaretreat.com or call PT +351 965 751 649 UK +44 7961 355 530