ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

addiction

Jarrid Wilson & Hope in the Face of Suicide

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Jarrid Wilson

Aren’t Christians supposed to have it “all figured out?” Does the gospel really work? Can people change? Is victory over our struggles possible? How?

In this episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast, we talk about Jarrid Wilson, a pastor and mental health advocate who recently committed suicide, and some related questions for Christians and non-Christians alike.

If you need help, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK. 

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive



Ben Is Back: Broken Honesty on a Bruised Holiday

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Ben is Back tells the story of Ben Burns (Lucas Hedges), a nineteen-year-old drug addict who unexpectedly returns to his family’s suburban home on Christmas Eve. From the moment she first sees him, Ben’s mom, Holly (Julia Roberts), welcomes him openly yet remains cautious of her son’s drug addiction. Over a turbulent twenty-four hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother’s unconditional love is put to the test as Holly fights ceaselessly to keep her son sober.

Written and directed by Peter Hedges (About a Boy, Dan in Real Life), Ben is Back is a gritty family drama that proves both compelling and authentic. Although the set-up of the film seems relatively straightforward, the script continues to surprise with its willingness to stare down the inner darkness of its characters. This level of nuance provides the cast with an opportunity to showcase their talent, especially Roberts and Hedges. Without question, this is Roberts’ best role in years and, arguably, one of the best performances of her career. Young Hedges’ portrayal of the damaged and conflicted Ben also holds his own up against Roberts’ powerhouse performance, proving that he continues to grow into his talent.

Throughout the film, Ben constantly reminds his mother that truth is a luxury. While he repeatedly quotes his sponsor’s call for brutal honesty, he also reminds his mother that he cannot be trusted. Committed to delving into his history with unflinching honesty about what he has done and with whom, Ben becomes a walking testament to the belief that we ‘reap what we sow’. Recounting every face, every moment, and every action of his journey, he [now] recognizes that there have been consequences to his actions in ways he could have never considered, whether it be to others or his own soul. (In addition, by setting the film through Christmas Day, the film also adds another layer of complexity by juxtaposing Ben’s battle with addiction with a time of year often seen as celebrating new beginnings.)

On the other hand, Holly’s views her son through the eyes of love and, as a result, has difficulty accepting that he is as ‘bad’ as he believes. While this type of behavior is typical for a parent in this situation—who wouldn’t want to believe the best in their child?—things become more complicated as Holly begins to blur the lines of truth and lies in order to convince herself that things are better than they are. (In fact, at one point, Holly even begins to reframe history by trying to persuade Ben that his behavior really wasn’t all that bad.) There’s a complexity to Roberts’ role as she blends her performance as Holly with both unconditional grace and blurred truth. Her love for Ben pursues him relentlessly as her ‘lost sheep’. However, at the same time, her belief in Ben also borders on manic through her unwillingness to accept the truth about his life. Are there boundaries between love and grace? Ben is Back reveals the complexities of unconditional love and commitment to one’s child, especially when addictions and mental health come into play.

Anchored by remarkable performances by its leads and a solid script, Ben is Back creates a world where one’s hidden darkness must be faced in order to step out on the other side. In doing so, it also manages to successfully subvert the ‘family drama’ by demonstrating the complexities of a parent’s love for a broken child.

Ben is Back is in theatres now.

Beautiful Boy: Everything

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Image result for beautiful boy movie poster

David Sheff (Steve Carell) dabbled in his share of drugs as a youth but seemingly grew out of that phase and developed into a responsible adult. On the other hand, his son, Nic (Timothee Chalamet), didn’t have the same luck in his experimental drug phase. Although experimenting with numerous drugs, Nic specifically became addicted to crystal meth, a highly addictive and dangerous drug that is nearly impossible to quit.

Directed by Felix Van Groeningen, Beautiful Boy is based on the true story of Nic Sheff’s addiction, David’s heart-wrenching struggle to save his son, and the family dynamic surrounding this difficult situation.

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When Nic wasn’t home, David seemed to live a picture perfect life with his newer family; his second wife, Karen (Maura Tierney), and their two children. They seemed happy and lived in a generous and well-kept home. David cooked and Karen made art. But when Nic was around, everything seemed heavy. David began to devote his life to helping his son, not only by being there for him and taking him to rehab, but by researching the drug and what was actually going on inside of Nic’s body. This was clearly a large time commitment and was very emotionally draining, not only on David but on his family as well.

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Throughout the film, we see numerous flashbacks to when Nic was a young boy. Not only does this highlight the special relationship between Nic and David, but it humanizes him as an addict. All too often, I think that addicts are portrayed as less than others or looked down upon. Some people have no pity for them because they “did this to themselves” and have to live with the consequences. Sometimes people may see them as pathetic. Perhaps some people wonder what drove them to drugs in the first place. Do they have an undesirable home life? Were they abused? That may be the case for some, but not all. Everyone that has an addiction came from somewhere. They have parents. They were an adorable baby and a cute kid. They had (and still do have) potential. A lot of them just took a wrong turn somewhere. I appreciate that this film humanizes the addict because it arms us with more sympathy to help as opposed to scoffing and ignoring the problem.

I felt as though lighting played an important role in this film. When Nic was with David, particularly at home (but also in diner scenes) everything seemed quite dark. Despite their home being larger than average, there also seemed to be more claustrophobic spaces when Nic and David were together. I found this surprising given that their father/son relationship initially seemed strong, and it didn’t feel as though David was any sort of trigger for Nic when it came to his addiction. Outside of the home, we are met with stunning, bright, and vast landscapes with the rolling green hills, as well as the ocean. When Nic is in LA with his mother, Vicki (Amy Ryan) on the other hand, everything seems much lighter and airy. Also surprising given the relationship between Nic and Vicki was much less strong.

I was also impressed by the sound mixing and score which did a great job at conveying the emotion and tone of any given scene.

In the end, Beautiful Boy felt somewhat flat in terms of story arc – there was no specific climax or rise and fall. However, because it is based on a true story, I can understand why it came across that way. A lot of the scenes felt like an extended montage of the family dancing through this battle.

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This film left me with the question of ‘how much can we really help?’ How can we help our family or friends with addiction without being overbearing, accusatory and perhaps driving them right back to their vice? There is a scene in this film where David and Karen attend a family support group. On the wall, there is a sign referring to the ‘3 C’s’. I didn’t Cause it, I can’t Cure it, and I can’t Control it. Addiction is scientifically proven to be a chronic disease. It is beyond you and beyond the addict. When you grasp that, I feel as though it becomes just a bit easier to understand their struggle and how placing blame or trying force a change often has adverse effects.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, here are some references that may be of assistance:

Canada: http://www.ccdus.ca/Eng/Pages/Addictions-Treatment-Helplines-Canada.aspx

USA: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/addictions

Beautiful Boy – Love in the Time of Addiction

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Addiction can tear apart families and ruin lives. Often the bonds of love lead people to try to help in whatever way they can. But those bonds can be fragile. Beautiful Boy is the story of a family that had to deal over a period of years with an addict who just couldn’t seem to be able to break away from his dependency. The film is based on two memoirs by father and son: Beautiful Boy by journalist David Sheff and Tweak by Nic Sheff.

Oakley Bull as Daisy Sheff, Maura Tierney as Karen Babour, Timothée Chalamet as Nic Sheff, Christian Convery as Jasper Sheff, and Steve Carell as David Scheff star in BEAUTIFUL BOY

David (Steve Carell) and Nic (Timothée Chalamet) are a happy and loving father and son. Nic is about to leave for college, but decides to take some time off first. The family is well off and there are firm bonds with Nic’s stepmother Karen (Maura Tierney) and young siblings. Soon, it is discovered that Nic is addicted to crystal meth. The rest of the film chronicles Nic’s and the family’s struggle with that addiction. It takes place over a period of years and many rehabs, relapses, promises, and deceptions. At times Nic is close to death, but that fact in itself is not enough for him to overcome his addiction.

Because the film is based on the two memoirs, it becomes essentially a father and son movie. Although there is also a good deal of interaction involving Nic’s siblings, stepmother, and birthmother (Amy Ryan). The relationship between David and Nic is the driving force of the story. David would do anything to help Nic. But as the story progresses he learns that there is really nothing that he can do to help Nic conquer this demon—except to love him. That is not said lightly or as saccharine. To love Nic in the midst of his addiction is a challenge. How does one continue to love someone who lies to you, steals from you, and deceives you year after year? Even when David turns down Nic’s pleas for “help”, we can see it is evidence of David’s real love for Nic.

Maura Tierney as Karen Barbour and Steve Carell as David Scheff star in BEAUTIFUL BOY

Screenwriters Luke Davies and Felix von Groeningen (who also directs) have made a seamless story of the two perspectives. It never seems like just David’s story or just Nic’s story. The two stories are not just different viewpoints, but a whole that reflects the bond between father and son—a love that runs so deep that even when it seems it must be beyond salvaging, it continues to hold them together in some way.

Timothée Chalamet as Nic Sheff and Steve Carell as David Scheff star in BEAUTIFUL BOY

It must be said that this is a painful movie to watch. There is a raw emotional honesty to all the relationships in the film. Emotion is a key element of the story. At one point David is doing everything he can to intellectually understand addiction. But Nic’s addiction has a very emotional center to it. It is only by entering into the emotions within the relationship that we understand just how painful this is for all involved.

Photos courtesy of Amazon Studios.

Breakthrough S2: Ep 1 and 2 – Protect Thyself

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Eighteen months ago, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard decided to spearhead a series on National Geographic Channel involving advances in scientific technology.  Entitled Breakthrough, each episode was created by a specific director and tackled a unique aspect of how science could help society in general. The series was recently renewed for a second season (10PM/9 CT on Tuesdays), providing the viewing audience six more glimpses into a world where science meets life head-on.

The first episode aired last week and centered around an issue many people deal with on a daily basis: addiction.  This doesn’t necessarily refer to drugs or tobacco, but can also refer to cell phone usage, selfies, or other items/hobbies that become “something more” to a person.  There are numerous ways addictions can be dealt with, but the episode focused on an experimental technique—psychedelic drugs such as LSD, Ibogaine, or Psilocybin (magic mushrooms).  The treatment is not for all, that’s for sure—but in the three cases shown, director David Lowery (Pete’s Dragon) made the treatment process look absolutely spellbinding.  The episode was definitely not what I expected, but was intriguing nevertheless.

Cyber terror was the subject of the second episode—an issue many of us summarily dismiss as something that can’t happen to us.  Target doesn’t think so after seeing their online system compromised a number of years ago with millions of credit card numbers exposed for the world to use.  It doesn’t take a lot to break into a computer – a simple USB drive can wreak all sorts of havoc.  However, there are white hat hackers who legally help companies secure their networks by attempting to break into them.  They have lots of work to do—major companies’ detection rate of cyberattacks is only 6%, and when they do find something, it takes seven months to find it.   In fact, by 2019, cyberattacks will cost the global economy $2 trillion dollars. It needs to be fixed now.

To make things worse, director Steven Hoggard (Inside the Green Berets) reveals that cybercriminals (black hat hackers) are using encryption-based devices to recruit people into terrorist groups such as ISIS. Some have even been able to hack into US Central Command!  Some journalists in the UK havegone undercover to help stop this from occurring, using a similar technique to how criminals were caught on the show To Catch a Predator.  Do they always succeed?  Not quite. But stopping one attack is better than none.  That’s why it’s always important to protect oneself from the attacks of enemies who cannot be seen.  It sounds eerily like what Paul told the church in Ephesus when describing the armor of God.  The various components—helmet, breastplate, sword, and other elements—protect a Christian from the attacks of the devil and his minions (see Ephesians 6:11-20). Protection can be a good thing—we just need to be aware of the problem and prepare accordingly.

I Saw the Light – Hank Williams’s Demons and Darkness

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“Everybody has a little darkness in ‘em.”

Hank Williams is one of the names that is synonymous with country music. He has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Songwriting Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There are so many songs associated with him that it’s hard to believe that he died when he was only 29. I Saw the Light is a celebration of Williams and his music from writer-director Marc Abraham.

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The film shows us Williams’s (Tom Hiddleston) life from the mid-1940s, when he is playing on a local radio station and in road houses, until his death from a heart attack on New Year’s Day 1953 on the way to a show. Hiddleston, who does his own singing in the film, does a wonderful job of creating a persona that evokes the legend of Hank Williams. The opening song, sung by Hiddleston standing alone in the spotlight, sets the stage for an admiration of this music. The film follows his meteoric career, his tempestuous relationship with his wife Audrey (Elizabeth Olsen), the domineering influence of his mother Lillie (Cherry Jones), and his struggles with alcoholism and pain medication to treat his spina bifida.

While the film has a good deal that will appeal to audiences (especially the performances and the sampling of Williams’s music), the film is a bit superficial. I came away from watching this feeling like I didn’t really get a chance to know him and to appreciate the demons he was dealing with. Those demons are more than just his addictions. We see a glimpse of his ambition, but not really the struggle to achieve his goals—nor the reasons he let it all begin to slip away while he was on top. His relationships with women—Audrey and Lillie especially—were never easy, but we aren’t really sure why.

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We also don’t see anything of the spiritual side of his life. The one line in the film that points to that is when he says “I made a little poem to the Lord. It might turn into a song.” The implication is this is the genesis of the song that lends its name to the title of the film—although we only hear him singing that song quietly to his infant son as a lullaby. (The song does come up again at his death.) Williams was a man who knew about the dark side of life, but who also had a foundation that gave him hope even with all the troubles in his life. His saw his songs not only as the darkness that everybody has within, but also as an expression of the joy that also is available to us. This combination of a flawed life and the understanding that there was something that could overcome those flaws, I think, is a side of Williams’s life that could have been examined a bit. He is, after all, the one who penned:

I wandered so aimless life filed with sin
I wouldn’t let my dear savior in
Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night
Praise the Lord I saw the light.

Photos courtesy of Sony Picture Classics