Never Get Outta the Boat (2002)

Director:

Paul Quinn

Writer:

Nick Gillie (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The story of young men whose recovery from drug abuse hangs on their self-management of a gritty L.A. rehab center. |

Plot Keywords:

Playing Footsie | Dominatrix

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Lombardo Boyar	...	Cesar
Darren E. Burrows	...	Franky
Thomas Jefferson Byrd	...	William
Nick Gillie	...	Joe
Devon Gummersall	...	Julian
Harry Lennix	...	Brandon
Alley Mills	...	Jean
Sebastian Roché	...	Soren
William Sanderson	...	Clarence
Chadwick Palmatier	...	Henry
Shawnee Smith	...	Dawn
Patrice Pitman Quinn	...	Sylvia
Emilio Rivera	...	Angel
Maile Flanagan	...	Nurse Laura
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ellen Caranasos	...	Mina
Lynn Collins	...	Lili
Branden Cook	...	Bald Passanger
Shan Omar Huey	...	Tucker
Daniel Parker		(as Daniel T. Parker)
Dwain A. Perry	...	Reporter
Brian Powell	...	Dad
Sara Rivas	...	Cara

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive drug material and language, strong sexual content and some violent images.

Runtime:

Canada:97 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Company:

Blow Up Pictures

Movie Connections:

References Apocalypse Now (1979)

Soundtrack:

Have No Fear

Very Disturbing Film and Very well acted, and very true

I watched this movie last night and I am still trying to shake off some of the fitful scenes. This movie depicts exactly what a joke rehabs and "sober living environments" have become. You're on your own in these half-way houses. Call them any PC term you like but they are dumps where people either sink or swim -- alone and just as disconnected sober as an addict is when they're at the bottom of their drug and alcohol use. The total abysmal loneliness and stark raving madness that happens when an addict realizes that they can only change if they want to, and trying to make sense of the 12 steps of Narcotics Anonymous/Alcoholics Anonymous. It takes years of relapses, and the deaths of those who you've become close to only to realize the painful wilderness of addiction, and that only the addict can get clean. Deep down they all know that nobody can stop a recovering addict who is determined to use or drink again. Rarely do addicts stay clean for any length of time. The insanity of this disease is a demon that will never go away, not with time, nor with money. This movie is on par with another Academy Award winning movie form the 1950's called The Days of Wine and Roses. Which for it's time was an excruciating film to watch. There is also a movie called A Hatful of Rain that although campy by today's standards carried the same message about heroine addiction.

Never Get Out of the Boat is an Oscar caliber presentation which shows the changes that have taken place in Higher Power based 12 step programs, and the enormous proliferation of drug abuse, and violence over the last 40 years, along with the downhill slide of the rehabilitation business in the last 15 years. It is a multi-billion dollar business, and forced rehab goes against the principals of the Big Book. The very book these men use to grapple with the devil himself. Very disturbing.

I have often wondered over the years why there hasn't been a major scientific breakthrough in the field of addiction. Could it be because it is a multi-billion dollar business? A cure would put a lot of people out of work. Then what? Every rehab facility should show it's patients this excellent film, because this is what getting clean and sober is. Some make it, but many die.