My Zinc Bed (TV Movie 2008)

My Zinc Bed: Directed by Anthony Page. With Uma Thurman, Jonathan Pryce, Paddy Considine, Sara Powell. A recovering alcoholic becomes involved with his boss’s wife, a former cocaine addict.

“Not quite sure what the film is trying to convey, but if it is implying that you have two choices – a life without passion in AA and life of passion and desire without AA and with active alcoholism, then that is incorrect and misleading. I donu0026#39;t understand why it is implying that joining AA to treat alcoholism is just a grim life of saying no to everything and denying yourself things out of fear of being triggered. That is not what AA is about. The goal is to be happy and functional. To flourish in all aspects of life. Some achieve it, some donu0026#39;t. The suggestion is to follow the tools of the program as fully as you can to achieve the maximum results. Thereu0026#39;s a reason they say u0026quot;stick around for the miracleu0026quot;. Peopleu0026#39;s lives improve in ways they never thought possible. Their lives get bigger.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe grim life is either being an active alcoholic or gritting your teeth in abstinence but still being dysfunctional and miserable – a dry drunk. AA helps with much more than just stopping drinking. The real work begins after you stop the craving and stay sober. Then you use tools to maintain sobriety and deal with life u0026quot;on lifeu0026#39;s termsu0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHow can someone write about AA just by having friends in it, going to a few meetings or reading about it? If you donu0026#39;t get it, you donu0026#39;t get it. But it feels like someone saying probably all psychiatric medicine makes you a zombie and itu0026#39;s no life. That is not true either. Medicine can change and save lives. But you have to take it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIs this film positing that AA removes all possibilities in your life except a grim sobriety? It just isnu0026#39;t true. There is much joy, laughter, support and growth in AA. There is a whole syndrome behind alcoholism beyond drinking that is helped in AA: isolating, not asking for help, destructive behavior (u0026quot;character defectsu0026quot;). Something feels very creepy in this film. As someone said elsewhere, if this film gives a suffering alcoholic a distrust of AA and causes them not to seek help, that would be an awful result.”