I’m not a movie critic, nor do I play one on TV, but I can recommend Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot as a mostly entertaining movie that revolves around the real-life spiritual awakening and journey through the 12 steps of an alcoholic cartoonist and quadriplegic, John Callahan (he died in 2010).  I felt like the movie did a good job of portraying his “incomprehensible demoralization” and his pursuit “to the gates of insanity or death”. How willing was I to go to any lengths to get a drink? Don’t Worry definitely demonstrates his answer.

My partner and I talked about how this film might be received by program members, in light of Tradition 10. I will say that I don’t get a sense that the film breaks with it; but, I can’t say, based on the movie, whether John Callahan actually broke with that tradition while he was alive. When dealing with artistic license in a “based on a true story” film, it’s hard to say with any certainty where the reality becomes muddied by the fiction. Callahan’s autobiography, of the same name, is available for anyone who wishes to investigate further.

Don’t Worry was funny and tragic, like each of our stories, and like life itself, and I have to wonder if I had seen it in a full theatre whether I would have at times been laughing alone at things which are humorous only to an alcoholic, those things which make us laugh when we identify ourselves in someone else’s story.

Scott D

Outlaws book study, Tuesdays @ 7 pm, Alano, Holland