By Mitch Jasper, Co-Editor in Chief of The Spark
In America, over 59 million people are suffering from some form of addiction. This is a commonly found and well-recorded statistic. However, an alternate statistic that is significantly less researched is how families are affected by their loved one’s struggles with addiction, and just how important showing those family members love can be.
The award winning film “Beautiful Boy” has brought attention to this issue by depicting a true story of father and son. The film, starring Steve Carrell and Timothee Chalamet, sheds light on the true story of the Sheff family, and the role addiction played in all of their lives. Nic Sheff and his father, David Sheff, are the main focus of the film. The film focuses on the highs and lows of Nic’s addiction, and highlights the relationship between his father and him. It also focuses on how it affects other members of the family as well, like Nic’s younger sibling. Throughout the movie, the audience sees that the siblings get progressively more confused and worried for their brother, and eventually his actions affect them physically. An example of this is when Nic steals one of the siblings' piggy bank in order to buy drugs. The kids were too young to understand what his addiction truly meant, but could still feel the rippling effects of his absence.
Most of all, Nic’s addiction affects his father. An important detail present through the movie is a scene of the two of them at the beach surfing, and the father seeing his son succeed at catching a wave. The movie periodically cuts back to either this scene or the rushing water. When the two seem the farthest apart, the water shows how the father’s love flows and is always present, because he is waiting for his son to recognize his love. In many scenes, it shows how deeply the dad wants to connect with his son and understand the way he is feeling. In one scene, he even buys illicit drugs just to understand how the son's addiction works. This shows how much he longs to understand and connect with his son, without even thinking of the danger or the backlash of buying illegal drugs on the street and then taking them.
Another example is a scene after he gets a call that his son has relapsed, he becomes stunned to silence. David starts losing track of even the smallest things in his day-to-day life, showing how deeply his son’s relapse affects all parts of him. Due to his concern for his son, he becomes absent in the lives of his other children which damages his family and his relationships close to a breaking point. This shows how the terrible things that happen to his son deeply affect him, and how the stress is all-consuming and makes it difficult for him to enjoy and be present in his life.
The most important aspect of this theme in the film is the fact that throughout everything, every relapse, and fight between family members, they never stopped caring and loving Nic. Each time he goes to rehab, every time he hurts the family, the ocean never stops flowing and they know that their loved one is still there, under layers and layers of suffocating addiction, and eventually, Nic comes back to his family. He has been sober for years, and he could only do this with the help of the people who love him. This shows how important family is to everyone, no matter what, and while they were hurt by his actions, they stayed strong for him.
Addiction is one of the strongest forms of pain, and it can tear apart a family, but the only way to recover is by the strongest form of caring: love.