Movie Review: Flight

Imagine, for a minute, that you are an alcoholic, and a drug addict, and you have to lie about everything in your life to protect your career. Ask yourself a question: Just how low can your life go before it all falls apart?

Synopsis:

In Flight, Denzel Washington plays a gifted airline pilot (Captain William Witaker) who, averted a catastrophic airline disaster with his superior piloting skills. He received praises from the public, everyone hailed him as a hero. But deep down, he is not at peace. Why? Because he has a secret. On the day when he piloted that aircraft, he was under the influence of alcohol and heroine. The implication is, if people find out the truth of his alcoholic and drug addiction tendencies, he will definitely loose his job, and might even be locked up in the jail for causing the crash (which was not his fault).

In this movie, Captain Witaker's personal life was crumbling apart. Not only is he struggling with the problem of substance abuse/addiction, but his family life is also disintegrated because of these problems. He has a son who doesn't even want to talk to him, and a wife who avoids him as if avoiding the worst plague in the world. After the aircraft incident, the investigators found high content of alcohol and heroine in his blood. To avoid being accused of causing the crash, and also to protect his professional career. Witakers lied about everything, but just how much lie can he spit out, and just how low can one's life reach before it finally all breaks loose? Flight, is a very good movie exploring the theme of substance abuse, addiction, and the value of truth.

What I think about the movie:

Flight is an excellent movie. The director Robert Zemeckis masterfully told a story, imbued with thought provoking moral messages: The consequences of substance abuse and telling lies. From the Christian perspective, one can easily observe, from this fictional story, how the sin of idolatry can utterly ruin a person's life. Personally, I think Denzel Washington accurately portrayed the life of an alcoholic and drug addict realistically. On substance abuse and addiction, I have had the experience to witness a few cases in my own life. When I was about 7 years old, my family used to live next door to a family whose husband was an alcoholic. There were a lot of domestic violence in our neighbor's family, and I remember his wife used to bring their children to our house for refuge whenever her husband became drunk. Needless to say that it was not a pretty picture. And here is another story from me, one of my uncles was a drug addict, he was arrested many times for selling drugs, my grandmother disowned him and chased him out of the family when he was 18. My uncle spent almost his entire life as a drug addict, and more than half of his life in the prison. He finally died because of his drug addiction.. and the last story; when I was a PhD student, I used to live in a pub hotel, many of my neighbors had problems with substance abuse. During that time, I have seen many, many young men ruining their lives by getting drunk and stoned on nightly basis, and have come to know even more broken, old men who have lost everything in their lives (including their family) because of their alcohol and drug problems. Out of all these cases I have witnessed, some say they want to stop, but there is a common pattern, and that pattern is, these people are unwilling to confess that they have a problem and need help, and this is why, they are unable to stop, and continuously sliding along the downward spiral of no return.

From the Christian perspective, the problem runs much deeper. It is a problem that manifest from the sinful status of human kind. It is known as a sin known as "idolatry". It is a profound, and very simple truth, a problem residing in our hearts. Furthermore, I wonder if a simple reflection on the classical case of substance abuse can reveal something about the (human caused) evil, suffering and destruction in this world. Could it be, when we worship a creation (i.e. that is, something other than the true God), then we are essentially, corrupting and using it for a purpose that is not good? I mean, alcohol is good if it is consumed with responsibility; heroine is good, if it is prescribed by a doctor to be used for medical purposes. The book of Genesis stated humankind were made in the image of (in the capacity as) God. Doesn't this mean, we are supposed to subdue and rule over creations on earth as faithful, loving, upright and responsible stewards, but remember God is the only king?

I implore the use of good sense: Does it make sense for an appointed steward of a kingdom, to refuse to acknowledge and exalt the rightful king, but instead exalt the subjects in the kingdom (such as a rock, putting it to the highest place)? Isn't such a steward utterly foolish? Surely, such a way of stewardship is a recipe for disaster!

This means, when we idolize creations, therefore abusing it, putting it above God, then we also putting God's good creation to perverted use, causing destructions. With our own doings, we cause evil and suffering, harming those around us with our idolatry, no matter what kind of idolatry it is.

But all is not lost, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is alive and true. If we repent and believe, then we are no longer slaves to sin, we will be dead to sin, but alive in Christ (Roman 6). This way, we can live an upright life intended by God's will, inspiring hope, love and peace for others to further the kingdom of God, instead of being bringers of death, suffering and destruction.

Warning: Flight is a great movie with good contents. However, there are 5 minutes of full nudity scenes at the beginning of the movie. Secondly, throughout the movie, there are also constant usages of crude language. So watch the movie at your own discretion.