In the movie “28 Days” Sandra Bullock plays the part of a women, Gwen, who enters a treatment center for her drinking problem. There was a history of alcoholism within her family. Her mother was contently drunk. Gwen and her boyfriend were always drunk and irresponsible together. On her sister’s wedding she arrived drunk and while she was dancing she crashed into her sister’s wedding cake. In a drunken state she tells her sister that she will get her another cake so drives her car down the road and crashes it into a house. Instead of receiving any jail time she is sentenced to 28 days in rehab. While she is in rehab her bags were searched of any illegal substances. While she is in rehab she experiences bodily withdrawal from the alcohol. She started to throw up, shake, and experience black outs. When she first entered rehab she would not follow the rules. She refused to clean her room, attend sessions, and took medication that was provided to her by her boyfriend. Even when her boyfriend would come and visit her he would sneak in alcohol for her. Now I do not have to tell you that, that is not allowed. Smart move, give a woman who is trying to quit drinking alcohol. When she was taught trying to seek out of her room she voiced to the counselors that she could stop drinking anytime she wants. Gwen started to notice that her hands were constantly shaking and that there were times where she could not breath. Once the reality set in that there was a chance that she could go to prison she took the rehab more seriously. She started to attend group therapy sessions as well as individual therapy sessions. While in group therapy she made friends with people who were addicted to alcohol, heroin, and drugs. Unfortunately, tragedy would strict when Gwen’s roommate was scheduled to be discharged committed suicide. She received a package which contended a toy bear. Inside the bear was heroin. It was never clear why she committed suicide but according to the movie 1 out of every 3 patients will return to rehab. Maybe, she did not want to be that one person. Gwen still made strives to fix all mistakes she had made while she was intoxicated. She was able to confront her sister and apologize for all the hurt and pain that she caused over the years. At the end of the movie she knew that she would have to leave her old life behind so she could live a happy and sober life. Gwen realized that she could not hang out in the same places where she would drink. She went out with her boyfriend and she could smell all the wine that was in the restaurant. She decided to break up with her boyfriend since he could not understand what clean and sober meant to her.

Seeing this movie reminds me of Smashed. Throughout the book Koren constantly convinced herself that she was not an alcoholic. Even though it was clear that she was. Both Koren and Gwen would wake up in the morning not knowing what they did last night. Earlier I talked about how Gwen was convinced that she could quit at anytime. Koren stated that she needed the alcohol so that she could socialize with others. At least at the end of each story they were able to walk away with the proper tools to make sure that can hopefully remain clean and sober.