Flight (2012)

Flight (2012)

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Written by: John Gatins
Starring: Denzel Washington

The film opens with a terrific sequence of a flight accident. This scene reminded me of Sully, because I watched that film before, but this sequence had much more tension built in. I love the genre they cracked for this film, it seems like an action, legal drama, but it's also a character study of an alcoholic. The way he goes downhill is so interesting, because in the beginning they put us in a spot where we seem to be okay with his drinking and just like people around him, we too don't even realize when the jump happened, but we suddenly find his drinking to be problematic. He tells himself, 'it's just like flying', it beautifully shows how for him staying sober is harder than flying an aircraft.

While making bad/tough decisions, people are aware that there would be a lot of consequences. So is Whip in this film. He's aware of the consequences. But out of nowhere, a small thing hits him, and it's the most humane moment in the film, he has lied about everything, he has gotten everything under control, it's just one more lie, but at what cost? To put someone else at fault, who was trying to save a kid. Just this one small thing, helped him seek the truth and stop living a life of lies. I love it when small things turn around lives, when people move mountains for the smallest of things. It's beautiful. And the film has as much style and jazz as a Scorsese film when he's drinking, but it also manages to show us the dark side of it like a warning. The film does that for us.