Rain in My Heart

I just saw this documentary, and man its one of the best I have seen (among several hundred). You get a rare look into the lives of 4 people struggling with their addiction to alcohol. This documentary is one of the most raw and "real" documentary you will ever see. In countries with alcohol problems, this documentary should be mandatory for all students to watch. If someone are heading down the wrong path, this might be an eyeopener and a huge step towards sobriety.

Its the closest thing you will get to experience true alcoholism, without being an alcoholic yourself, or hanging around with someone who are.

I reckon this is the best documentary I've ever seen, and I've seen many. It is very gruelling, don't expect an easy ride.

Paul Watson, a very very experienced, honourable documentary maker, follows four alcoholics. The brilliant, inspiring, realistic doctor who is attempting to treat them also appears. So do some of their dependents, when they have any. Avoiding spoilers, I can say that, of the four subjects, two are older, two younger; also of those two are male and two female.

What happens to them totally involved me and I was shocked, saddened, angered, amused, disturbed. Totally, put through the mangle, we might say in the UK.

I have a young friend who is a newly-qualified doctor. He asked me to bring round my DVD copy. We sat and watched it in total silence. At the end, he said he thought that every medical practitioner should see it. It is superb.

If you live in an alcohol-drinking country, particularly the UK, whether you're a light drinker, a heavy drinker, a child, a teacher, a parent, a youth leader, someone working with the elderly, a sports coach, a boss, a shopkeeper, a police officer, a social worker, anyone you should see this movie. Watch with your sons and daughters (perhaps over the age of 14). They should know what alcohol, abused, can do and you won't find a finer expression of that than this brilliant movie.

I've shown this film as an educational tool for many, many people. Real tearful and honest expression of the personal condition.

A bit sloppy when it comes to presentation, editing, and an overall flow, but the subject matter is important, and the stories is contains are suitably harrowing.

Mark's story in particular is not just an intense look into an alcoholic lifestyle, as it also touches upon anxiety, depression, and self-harm in a no punches pulled type way- and as I've never seen a documentary do that before, it was naturally pretty confronting.

Alcohol is both addictive and legal and that's pretty scary, especially because it can be hard to know just how harmful a dependency on the stuff can be. Documentaries like this are vital for getting that kind of information out there, even if it isn't easy to watch...