"Falling Down" is a very amusing black comedy, with Michael Douglas playing a recently fired defense worker known by his license plate moniker, D-FENS. Stuck in a monumental traffic jam, D-FENS angrily abandons his car and begins walking to his destination: his ex-wife's home, to give his little girl a birthday gift.
Along the way, he smashes up a Korean shopowner's store, stands up to gang members in a style we mere mortals have only dreamed, kills a Nazi, shoots up a phone booth and terrorizes employees and patrons at a fast-food restaurant. His ex-wife, played by Barbara Hershey, who knows he is coming over despite a restraining order, tells a cop she wants police protection. While he has never before become violent, he has "a horrendous temper" and she knows he might be capable of far worse. Still, in response to the cop's query (who at least knows enough to ask), she says he rarely drinks and doesn't use drugs. Yet, as with Anna Ayala, crazy, out-of-control behaviors are inexplicable unless we assume alcohol or other drug addiction.
One reviewer claims that the point of the movie is to make a statement about society and that we should stand up for ourselves, albeit in more constructive and non-violent ways. And while we should, only an alcoholic is likely to go over the top the way D-FENS does, even though he is mostly reacting to behavioral manifestations of addiction in others (for example, the gang members, almost 100% of whom are substance addicts of one stripe or another). While healthy people may harbor fantasies of doing crazy things in response to idiotic rules and the rude behaviors of others, the neo-cortex, the human part of the brain responsible for restraining the impulses of the lower brain centers, usually prevents them from being acted out. This is not the case for alcoholics, whose damaged neo-cortex exercises far more limited restraint, a differential biochemistry discussed at length in my book, "Myths and Realities of Alcoholism: Removing the Stigma of Society's Most Destructive Disease." Another reviewer blames the recession that resulted in his layoff (the early '90s was an era of massive layoffs in the defense industry, to which D-FENS had devoted his life), but a layoff alone cannot account for insanity. While some may ask whether the fault is his for allowing himself to be driven over the edge or society's for pushing him there, addictionologists know that the odds of unrestrained violence are remote without damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, the most common cause of which is alcoholism.
In my first of four books on the subject of alcohol and other-drug addiction, "Drunks, Drugs & Debits: How to Recognize Addicts and Avoid Financial Abuse," I discuss another dark comedy, "War of the Roses." This would have been one of the greatest alcoholic movies ever if it had portrayed either main character (one of whom happens to be played by Michael Douglas) as drinking heavily. While recovering addicts know that the movie has addiction written all over it, most non-addicts think it's just about a psychotic couple whose love inexplicably turns to hatred over the course of a 17-year marriage. Similarly, "Falling Down" portrays a man with behavioral indications of an out-of-control limbic system (the pre-human, emotional brain), the normal cause of which is alcoholism. If we assume he hid his addiction well (as many do, even from their spouses), the movie makes sense. Still, it's a good movie, combining an appeal to our visceral emotions with some very amusing scenes and, not least, Robert Duvall in a wonderful role as the endearing Detective Prendergast as the only law enforcer able to put two and two together.
Along the way, he smashes up a Korean shopowner's store, stands up to gang members in a style we mere mortals have only dreamed, kills a Nazi, shoots up a phone booth and terrorizes employees and patrons at a fast-food restaurant. His ex-wife, played by Barbara Hershey, who knows he is coming over despite a restraining order, tells a cop she wants police protection. While he has never before become violent, he has "a horrendous temper" and she knows he might be capable of far worse. Still, in response to the cop's query (who at least knows enough to ask), she says he rarely drinks and doesn't use drugs. Yet, as with Anna Ayala, crazy, out-of-control behaviors are inexplicable unless we assume alcohol or other drug addiction.
One reviewer claims that the point of the movie is to make a statement about society and that we should stand up for ourselves, albeit in more constructive and non-violent ways. And while we should, only an alcoholic is likely to go over the top the way D-FENS does, even though he is mostly reacting to behavioral manifestations of addiction in others (for example, the gang members, almost 100% of whom are substance addicts of one stripe or another). While healthy people may harbor fantasies of doing crazy things in response to idiotic rules and the rude behaviors of others, the neo-cortex, the human part of the brain responsible for restraining the impulses of the lower brain centers, usually prevents them from being acted out. This is not the case for alcoholics, whose damaged neo-cortex exercises far more limited restraint, a differential biochemistry discussed at length in my book, "Myths and Realities of Alcoholism: Removing the Stigma of Society's Most Destructive Disease." Another reviewer blames the recession that resulted in his layoff (the early '90s was an era of massive layoffs in the defense industry, to which D-FENS had devoted his life), but a layoff alone cannot account for insanity. While some may ask whether the fault is his for allowing himself to be driven over the edge or society's for pushing him there, addictionologists know that the odds of unrestrained violence are remote without damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, the most common cause of which is alcoholism.
In my first of four books on the subject of alcohol and other-drug addiction, "Drunks, Drugs & Debits: How to Recognize Addicts and Avoid Financial Abuse," I discuss another dark comedy, "War of the Roses." This would have been one of the greatest alcoholic movies ever if it had portrayed either main character (one of whom happens to be played by Michael Douglas) as drinking heavily. While recovering addicts know that the movie has addiction written all over it, most non-addicts think it's just about a psychotic couple whose love inexplicably turns to hatred over the course of a 17-year marriage. Similarly, "Falling Down" portrays a man with behavioral indications of an out-of-control limbic system (the pre-human, emotional brain), the normal cause of which is alcoholism. If we assume he hid his addiction well (as many do, even from their spouses), the movie makes sense. Still, it's a good movie, combining an appeal to our visceral emotions with some very amusing scenes and, not least, Robert Duvall in a wonderful role as the endearing Detective Prendergast as the only law enforcer able to put two and two together.