28 Days Reflection Paper

The movie 28 Days is about Gwen Cummings and her dangerous lifestyle. Gwen is a journalist with a partying attitude, alcohol addiction, and pain killer addiction to Vicodin. She has a blatant disregard for other people’s feelings and rules. The world revolves around what she wants and needs. She makes excuses for everything that goes wrong around her and according to her it’s never her fault. Until one day when she screws up, she ends up with a DUI and a twenty-eight day stint in a rehabilitation center. Through the program at the rehab center, Gwen embarks on a journey to recovery and discovers that true happiness lies from within.
Leading up to her DUI and sentence to the rehab center or jail, Gwen shows definite symptoms of alcoholism, drug use, and disregard for other people’s feelings and rules. She goes to a party with her boyfriend Jasper and gets filthy drunk. When they get home, they are so wrapped up in each other that at first they don’t notice the small fire they started. Jasper then sees it and puts it out. The following morning she is hung over from the night before and wakes up late. Her sister is getting married and she is late for the wedding. She doesn’t even remember what she did the night before because she was so drunk. She jumps up out of the bed yelling at Jasper to hurry up because they are late. One of the first things she does after getting up is to go to the refrigerator and grab a beer. Then, she worries about the excuse she is going to come up with to tell her sister. After running out the door with the beer in her hand to get a taxi, she tells the driver to hurry up she is late. Trying to put her hosiery on, she is uncoordinated and can’t accomplish the task. She then throws them out the window laughing like a school child.
Upon arriving at the church, a bridesmaid meets her at the car fussing at her because she is forty-five minutes late for her sister’s wedding that she is a participate in. She just laughs and thinks it funning making a joke about the woman’s seriousness. As she enters the room her sister is in, she starts with her excuses saying a water main broke and that she got caught in traffic. Her sister is frustrated with her and tells Gwen that she makes it impossible for her to love her. Then her sister leaves the room. Gwen then takes a pain pill with a glass of wine.
During the reception, Gwen is talking unstoppable about how pretty the wedding was. In their drunken state, Jasper and she are dancing recklessly on the dance floor not paying attention to the people and things around them. They are twirling all around and laughing loudly. Jasper lets go of her and she falls backwards into her sister’s wedding cake therefore destroying it. She stands up laughing about it and slurs her words telling her sister not to worry about it that she’ll replace it. She walks out of the church taking off her cake covered dress and climbs into the driver’s seat of the wedding limousine. As she is driving, she swerves all over the road. She messes with the telephone in the car trying to find a place to buy a cake. As she looks down to hang the phone up, she swerves into the opposite lane. When she looks up, she is in the wrong lane. She turns right to avoid hitting a car and crashes into the front of a house. Her driving was impaired due to her drinking the alcohol.
The next part of the movie takes place at Serenity Glen Mind, Body, and Spirit. Gwen has to undergo a twenty-eight day stretch in rehab for a DUI. If she doesn’t complete it, she has to go to jail. She is not happy about going there. When she arrives she is talking on her cell phone, a worker walks up to her and takes the phone away from her. She tells Gwen that cell phones are not allowed at the rehab center. The worker has Gwen follow her into the building. Then, she searches Gwen’s entire bag removing all the articles that the rehab center doesn’t allow. She tells her that all the articles except for the Vicodin will be returned to her when she leaves. The Vicodin will be flushed down the toilet because there is no pain medicine allowed at the rehab center. The worker then takes a picture of her for their files and explains all the rules. There are only certain times phone calls can be made and they are limited to only ten minutes. There is no romance and sex allowed amongst the patients. They also chant or say the serenity prayer around the center.
Gwen is taken to her room where she meets her roommate. Then, she goes down stairs and meets the other addicts in her group. Later while in her room she is going through withdrawals. She’s vomiting and also having flashbacks of her mother who was an alcoholic and drug addict. She goes to a nearby store to buy cigarettes and they don’t have any. She buys a bunch of gum and candy instead to chew on when she is going through nicotine withdrawals. After one of her first group therapy sessions, she walks down to the water edge and see’s a man smoking. She bums a cigarette from him. She’s still is unhappy about being there so she asks the man if he knows of any ways to get things brought in that people want that aren’t allowed. He tells her that if her counselor finds out she could get kicked out of the program. She tells him that she’s not planning on telling the counselor. He tells her it’s too late because he is the counselor. They go to his office where he gives her books to study about her disease. She is also given a journal that she has to write in everyday. He lets her know that she will have other bad days too not just that day.
During visitation day, Jasper brings her some more Vicodin. He also sneaks her out of the complex in his car. They go get drunk and party. Later that evening, he returns her to the rehab center. She walks back in the door all strung out on alcohol and pain killers. The next morning she is in her counselor’s office and he tells her that it will take her a few days to get her transfer prepared. He lets her know that it will be a transfer to jail not another rehab center. Her sentence was for twenty-eight days in rehab or jail time. She thinks it is funny and is laughing about it. He tells her that it’s ok if she thinks it is a big joke but they have rules that have to be followed in their facility. He tells her to go to her room and pack her bags because she is leaving in the morning. Gwen tells the counselor that she isn’t leaving because she doesn’t belong in jail.
Gwen is in denial because she says that she doesn’t even belong in rehab. She says that she’s not like all the other people. She can control herself. She keeps talking about how if she wants to she can control herself. She leaves the counselors office and rushes to her room to find the Vicodin she has hidden. She was going to take one but has second thoughts. She goes to her bedroom window and throws them out the window where they scatter all over the ground. She closes the window and goes about doing other things. She has more withdrawals of vomiting, shaking, and having the flashbacks of her mother again. Her roommate checks on her to see if she is going to the meeting and she tells her no.
While everybody else is in the meeting, Gwen decides that she wants to go outside and get her pills up off of the ground. When she tries to go to the front door, somebody is there. She decides to turn around and go back to her room to figure out how she is going to get her pain pills. Her desire for the pills is so strong that she climbs out her bedroom window to a tree branch. She falls from the tree. A new patient finds her and carries her into the building. She didn’t break any bones but she did injure her ankle so she is on crutches. This incident is a wakeup call for her.
The following morning she is at her counselors’ office telling him that she can’t go to jail. She tells him that she needs help something is wrong with her. She tells him what kind of person jumps out of a window because they can’t stay still. She knows that if she goes to jail she will die and she doesn’t want to die. She says a person should be able to handle being alone. She has another breakthrough in her group therapy when everybody is ranting at her because they are mad that she is still there because she broke too many rules. She finally gets upset and screams at them to back off because she is having a bad day. They all clap when she is done because she has made some progress during this session. Her sister comes for the family therapy session. She explains how Gwen ruined her wedding day. Gwen doesn’t remember it that way. So they fuss back and forth. Her sister says that Gwen always walks around like she is a victim and was handed a raw deal. She tells them that their father left her too and their mother died when she was little too. Her sister tells them you don’t see her using that to completely abandon all self control and indulge herself. She tells them she has a life and walks out and leaves. In therapy, one of the other patients asks about dating. The counselor tells them a good rule to follow when they get out is to get a plant. If the plant is still a live a year later get a pet. In two years if the plant and pet are still around then it is ok to start dating. He also says insanity is going to the same place over and over again and expecting different results.
Her sister comes back for another visit and makes up with Gwen. They talk a lot about their childhood and her sister says she should have been there for her more. Gwen says she never asked for help so how would she have known she needed it. Her sister tells her everybody needs help sometime. When she gets out of rehab, she realizes that Jasper and she are not going to work out so she breaks up with him. She also realizes what she wants for her life now and it doesn’t include alcohol and drugs. Gwen had to experience many setbacks in her life for her to finally realize her true happiness.