alcoholism close up

Rating: 8/10 (28 February 2013)

Denzel Washington stars in Flight, a 2012 film directed by Robert Zemeckis. The film also stars Bruce Greenwood, John Goodman, Kelly Reilly, and Tamara Tunie.
Washington plays Whip Whitaker, a veteran pilot who is a cocaine-snorting alcoholic. During a flight, the plane he's piloting malfunctions and starts careening toward earth. Somehow Whip is able to land it, with six lives being lost, when in the hands of another pilot (as they prove in flight simulation), all passengers and crew would have been lost.
While Whip is in the hospital recovering, his blood is drawn, and the toxicology report shows that he has cocaine in his system and three times the legal alcohol limit -- if you're driving a car.
The airline lawyer and others believe that the manufacturer of the plane is at fault, but Whip's blood test complicates matters. Whip meanwhile denies he's an alcoholic, though he tries to stop drinking several times and fails. He has a chance to save himself from any malfeasance in the accident -- but will he take it? A good film with an excellent performance by Washington as a man who can't face up to the fact that he is a drunk, that he lost his wife and child because he is a drunk, and that his job is now in danger because he is a drunk. He meets a young woman, Nicole (Kelly Reilly) in the hospital who is trying to get clean from heroin, and her attempts to get him help fail as well.
This film isn't without problems, and in a way, it's a good thing the star is Washington because he saves it. First of all, the addition of the Nicole character is hackneyed, and one could see how it was going to play out right away.
Another problem I have is -- and this may not be a problem, but I don't know much about pilots - the fact that he was sleeping up until the plane started its descent and the copilot woke him up. Could he have noticed a problem beforehand had he been awake? The fact that he was asleep is never mentioned.
I have another problem but it's a spoiler, so I won't reference it here.
The fact that Whip performed a miracle while intoxicated isn't unheard of, as there have been reports of surgeons performing perfect surgeries while in an alcoholic blackout, actors line-perfect on stage while in blackouts -- and Whip wasn't even in a blackout. The fact that Whip did perform a miracle makes the situation all the more tragic, that he had so much ability and was willing to throw it all away by flying while intoxicated.
Definitely worth seeing for Denzel's performance and for the accurate depiction of the denial and power of addiction.