movies with alcoholism themes

[spoiler alert: I give away endings in these summaries]

The Lost Weekend

This movie was not just a nice glimpse into the binge of an alcoholic, but a great portrayal of attitudes towards alcohol and alcoholism in the 1940s - as well as a nice portrait of life in 1940s New York.
The movie focused around the life of one writer's severe struggles with alcoholism and the romance that helps him find a way out.  Apparently the realism of the film was quite controversial for its time.  But the acting was quite good and the portrayal of one man's history of alcoholism, his methods of doing anything to get a drink despite his brother's and girlfriend's efforts to keep him away, and what happens when he starts on a binge are all quite well done.  Two parts of the film I felt were a little strange were the captive scene and the end.  In one scene, the protagonist, Don Burnam, falls down a staircase.  While unconscious, he is taken to a ward and wakes up in a room lined with beds of other individuals with alcohol problems.  They make a big deal out of the hallucination issues in that scene and one that follows.  I admit I am not an expert on alcoholism, but I thought this aspect seemed a little overplayed.  It felt as though symptoms of different issues were conflated here.  Also, the end of the movie came extremely quick after such a long, drawn-out portrayal of the problem.  Don is struggling so much with his alcoholism, he considers suicide. But his girlfriend stops him, and convinces him to pursue his life as a writer.  The change comes rather suddenly, he promises to stop, the movie suddenly ends.  I was left wondering if the director was implying that the problem was solved in that moment.  I had a hard time being convinced myself.  But, overall, the movie potrayed Don's struggles very vividly and well.  I'm sure the movie provided much social benefit for the time it was produced in raising attention to alcoholism issues.


Under the Volcano

This 1984 film was based on an earlier novel of the same title.  It is similar to the first movie in that it follows a very short time frame.  However, whereas The Lost Weekend storyline occurs over the course of a few days, Under the Volcano traces the events of the final day-and-a-half in the life of an alcoholic.  The movie takes place in Mexico around time of WWII, and the protagonist, Geoffrey Firmin is living there as a British diplomat.  His wife left him a while ago.  He becomes heavily drunk when he finally opens up a divorce request from her.  However, the letter is rather outdated, and she arrives the next morning after extended travel to try and get back together.  Its later revealed that he never opened up most of her letters.  However, the effort ends up being too late as Geoffrey winds up drunk in some saloon/brothel, and angers a customer that thinks Geoffrey is about to steal his horse.  He is shot to death at the end of the film, but not before a drawn-out portrayal of going through a day largely in a drunken stupor.  His wife and half-brother, Hugh, have to help him undress to shower, help him shave, and do other daily chores.  Geoffrey goes in and out of different degrees of drunkenness throughout the day as he finds his way towards more alcohol.  He goes on a carnival ride, where children are shown picking up all the belongings he drops in the process. 
I was surprised at ultimately how little effort his family made in trying to calm his drinking habits in the film.  They made some little comments every so often about putting a drink down or not drinking so much.  But he ignored them and they never persisted.  In the evening, Hugh joins him in drinking a bit.  They seem to recognize Geoffrey's drinking problem yet don't take it very seriously.  They seem to just accept that as part of who he is ... which is interesting in itself.  In this sense, the movie gives a very different depiction than The Lost Weekend.



Flight

I thought this was a wonderful movie and fit perfectly into this class.  The movie had a provocative storyline built around the issue of alcoholism.  The captain of a plane does a daring maneuver to save the plane from crashing.  6 people die, but they say that most other pilots would not have been able to spare anyone's life.  However, blood tests in the hospital reveal that the pilot, Whip Whitaker, was drunk at the time, leading to a legal issue that continues throughout the movie.  In that process, we see how much of an alcoholic he really is.  You see a couple times he starts to give up his drinking habits, but then he has one drink and can't stop.  The girlfriend he picks up along the way starts attending AA meetings and tries to bring him along. He goes to one, but leaves and doesn't want to come back.  His habits continue and the movie slowly shows how many of his family and friends he has lost due to drinking.  At the very end, Whip has the opportunity to get off clean during his trial - but suddenly confesses to being an alcoholic who is drunk there and continuously drinking. He is sentanced to prison - but turns his life around there, helping other alcoholics in prison and reconnecting with his friends and family after a year of sobriety.
It is a touching story showing both the effects of alcoholism, the struggles therein, and the point at which a person turns around. The inclusion of AA meetings in the movie and the textured look at his various relationships helps provides a nice glimpse into Whip's life and how much the alcohol consumes him. But it also shows an inspiring story of change.