Come on, I dont care how full-on alki he is, if you guzzle hard liquor like he did, in the quantities that he did, I'm pretty sure your vital organs would immediately seize up and explode/implode...
"The psychologists call him a psychopath. They don't know what else to call him."
He does have incredibly high tolerance, but I agree that some of the stuff he does, like guzzling a fifth of liquor in his car, is unrealistic.
shareAnd it's true that the film doesnt show all the true repercussions of his drinking, like constantly puking and *beep* himself, because that's not very cinematic, but I dislike movies or TV programs that show characters slamming hard liquor like it's water or, at the least, light beer, without showing a realistic and immediate impact of such consumption, but the fact that it's not humanly possible to drink like that pretty much cancels out any accurate follow-up scenes.
"The psychologists call him a psychopath. They don't know what else to call him."
I don't know....showed him dry heaving and with the shakes...hardcore stuff. As far as movies go, it comes the closest to portraying what it is really like IMO. Now, not even I could drink like him, but perhaps some of that (guzzling a fifth) was for dramatic effect. This is a movie after all.
“There are no ordinary moments. There is always something going on.” – Peaceful Warrior
But the poster above you is correct. Alcoholics vomit and pee themselves a lot, but of course, that would have put us off as an audience.
But I think they should have shown us an episode of full-blown Delirium Tremens too. Otherwise, this was a very good depiction of an alcoholic in the last stage of alcoholism. Oscar was well-deserved.
You obviously haven't been around severe, hardcore alcoholics with years of built up tolerance, and you're lucky you haven't. I've seen grown men put down a fifth in a few minutes, and then more and more. Its about liver shutdown more than it is about heart problems. When the liver shuts down, your organs start to rot.
The point is that this level of alcoholism kills, just like it does to Ben.
Ben's alcoholism in this film is portrayed in a believable way, IMO.
What amazes me is that there are people who drink like this, and survive for years and years.
I'm a civilian, I'm not a trout
It's quite possible to drink like him. I'm not an alcoholic or anything but I can also drink vodka fastly, without being damaged. And I have a friend who I saw drinking 20cl vodka bottle in one shot, without even breathing. It depends on your tolerance for alcohol.
shareI agree Gun, I've also seen this myself and it's possible and not pretty. These guys down a fifth like I would guzzle a litre of water after mowing the lawn on a 100 degree day.
Just watching him knock back a fifth like that gives me a nauseous feeling.
Wow, I'm amazed to read several people saying that is believable, guzzling a fifth. I have never seen that level of alcohol tolerance, but it's interesting to see it's far from unheard of.
sharePeople on the internet will seemingly claim anything. What are the odds of not only knowing tons of unnaturally high-tolerance severe alcoholics, but also being able to track in detail their regular drinking behaviors AND being able to say how these behaviors are effecting their health?
Even if they are telling some semblance of truth about these 'people they know', I'm guessing it won't be too much longer of them, or anyone else knowing these insane boozers.
“Without being damaged.”
*snort-laugh*
You ARE being damaged. You’re just too addicted to know it, Gun.
oh I don't know, heavy drinkers can put a lot away sometimes
shareThey cinematize it a bit. It's not a cult classic film. It's very Hollywood and dated. Great film though. True he would be incontinent, and especially at his projected age and progression into alcoholism, it would not be so pretty. He wouldn't die next to some beautiful hooker. Shakes and dry heavs and acting like a retarded 4 yr old are the prettier sides of end stage alcoholism. Maybe a 20 yr old could drink like that for a couple years and hold it together. But you gotta take the movie for what it's worth. Whatch barfly. Even though it glamorizes alcoholism more, it still doesn't fail to show the dark side of addiction.
shareI did not say exactly that, but in the opening scene, I said he would be dead if he drank that much in one day. There is no way that his body would not shut down.
http://forsylvialikensx.forumotion.com/
You haven't seen a full blown alcoholic at their worst then. I was a 120 lb twig due to a straight vodka diet for months, I was drinking literally 2-3 fifths of vodka a day and I know people who were much worse than even me. You do go through the health problems such as intestinal bleeding, stomach ulcers, etc. After you throw up all the blood in your stomach, you're able to continue drinking for another few hours until you have to throw up more blood and dry heave. Admittedly, a person cannot sustain this type of drinking for more than a few months, which is why Ben gave himself a month to live.
shareI'm glad someone commented about this apart from the armchair critics who have obviously not known any actual hardcore alcoholics.
Yes it can be done and it goes on regularly every day around the world. It does take a serious toll on their lives but there are plenty of people around the world today who could down a whole bottle of vodka with little effect (apart from medical) compared to the average person who doesn't consume as many litres as they do.
So true alleyezonme-1, I became an alcoholic later in life unfortunately!!:( Dry heaving, vomiting, stomach ulcers all happen!! Then after all that passed, I was ready for another drink!! All those bad feelings, it's like they never existed!! The only difference, is my drink of choice is white wine!! I would drink as much, vodka as you if that was available instead!!! I am sorry to hear about your problem, and I used to judge the person I became!! I hope you got better!!:)
shareI am afraid to say that they can. I know at least two alcoholics who downed three fifths (70 cl.) every day, and one who now is dead who drank five of those a day.
Alcoholics increase their tolerance immensely. In the last stages (which Ben is in) it is just about drinking, passing out, vomiting, and drinking again. We were spared from the most vile effects of alcoholism in this movie.
I've seen people worse than him drink way more than him, but he played the part well and deserved his oscar, one guy i know got locked in the pub over night by accident and drank himself into a coma, 5 days later he was back in the pub bragging about it, its not an addiction its a sickness that will eat you up and spit you out
shareIt was a terrible film with bad acting all around.
shareOne of the greatest pitfalls in life is underestimating the capacity of the human. Be it to create or destroy.
shareI described my cousin's intentional demise with alcohol in another thread. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113627/board/nest/243114203
This movie glamorizes it quite a bit. My cousin was a healthy, non-drinker until he had his nervous breakdown in his early 50's. For apparently no reason he started drinking vodka on a daily basis. It took a year and a half to kill him. It wasn't as glamorous and cool as it seemed in the movie. It was sad and repulsive. The pissing and *beep* himself. He thought it was amusing that his wife made him wear diapers, and she changed him because he refused. The smell, his teeth rotted out of his head. Then in the later stages he had open sores all over his body oozing fluids. His swollen balls because of the fluid retention made him cry.
What movie did you watch? In this one it didn't seem glamorous and cool at all.
shareA cast of beautiful people right off the bat. I don't remember any mention of Cage crapping or pissing himself himself. Then I come here to the boards and see posts of young guys aspiring to die this way.
Nic Cage is beautiful? I don't think I have ever heard of someone who thought that before.
shareThanks for sharing; everything you have stated is true due to my personal experience with a relative that recently passed away from cirrhosis of the liver.
I can attest that some of the scenarios in this movie are absolutely not true. Yes, maybe you can drink that much, yes, maybe you can function normally ingesting a certain amount, yes, people do act that stupid when they drink, but to have it outright kill you? No.
When a relative of mine was dying, it was not a pretty sight. After being diagnosed with end-stage liver disease, they passed away five months later.
A few weeks prior to their death, their liver was finally shutting down. As time went on, they would sleep more and more, could barely speak, eat food, consume fluids, dropped an enormous amount of weight due to loss of appetite, lost bodily functions (urinating and defecating themselves), disorientation, weakness, vomiting blood, hallucinations, and bedridden. They lost their leg and pubic hair, completely jaundiced (yellowing of the skin, eyes, and gum line), and their stomach was distended (beer belly). They were suppose to have their liver drained weekly but never did due to the accumulation of fluid buildup in the abdomen. They were also a heavy smoker, but couldn't inhale because the cigarettes just aggravated their condition.
Mind you, it took 40+ years of habitual substance abuse just to arrive at that state, not one month as Ben had indicated in the movie. Depending on your tolerance, it would take too long to off yourself if you're looking to checkout the quickest way possible.
Technically, Ben shouldn't have been able to keep drinking if his organs were shutting down. Every sip of alcohol would have made a burning sensation in his liver. The way they portrayed it in this movie is unrealistic. Nobody just gently passes away from continued alcohol consumption.
Take it from somebody who experienced it first-hand: Unless you slip into a coma, get hit by a bus, or choke on your own vomit like Jimi Hendrix (in his case, combination of pills and booze), you can't kill yourself drinking. At the very most, you'll give yourself liver cancer and organ failure. Remember, the real life Ben Sanderson (John O'Brien) ultimately wound up shooting himself because death by alcohol wasn't working.
I know, it's just a movie, but I thought I'd let everybody know in case somebody is contemplating taking their life by drinking. That's just simply not an option.