The Lost Weekend: 1945

The Lost Weekend teaches a lesson without being preachy or condescending. In the film, the protagonist, Don Birnam, is an alcoholic. And it isn't pretty. Don is a desperate man, stealing from his brother just to get more booze. He drinks to run away from his life. Don sees himself as a complete failure; he's a writer who published a short story in college and decided to drop out and pursue writing full time in New York City. Instead, he's turned into a drunk who lives off his brother's good will. When his brother has had enough and tries to force Don to sober up, the results are disastrous. Don can't think about anything other than his precious rye whiskey, and when his brother leaves for a long weekend in the country, Don steals the money for the cleaning lady and goes on a drinking binge (I learned that at this time, $10 could buy a lot of cheap whiskey).

As Don spirals out of control and wreaks havoc on his body, the woman he loves waits desperately for him outside his apartment door. It's the few scenes when we see her that we begin to understand how alcoholism affects more than just the alcoholic. She doesn't want to love him, but she does. And it is her pain and misery that make Don's seeming lack of care for anything but booze all the more horrific. Clearly, this woman would do anything for him, but that doesn't matter to Don.

What impressed me in this film was just how real it all seemed. Throughout the weekend, Don progressively looks worse. The make-up and costumes reflect a man who hasn't bathed and hasn't consumed anything but liquor. His skins grows pale and damp with sweat covering his face. Ray Milland, who played Don, captures the shaking hands and unsteady gait common for alcoholics, and his outlook sways from supremely optimistic when he begins drinking to the absolutes depths of hell when the bottle is empty.

I wouldn't say this is a film I would see again. But it's definitely a film that is starkly real and presents an ugly side to our society. For that reason, it's film that deserves to watched at least once, to gain that understanding of what alcoholism does to people.