Opinion on “Leaving Las Vegas” (1995)

Written and directed by Mike Figgis and based on the novel by John O’Brien, Leaving Las Vegas stars Nicolas Cage as a disgraced alcoholic screenwriter who’s fired and uses his severance check to move out to Las Vegas on a mission to drink himself to death. The film was highly acclaimed and won Cage the Academy Award for Best Actor. It is often cited as one of the best depictions of alcoholism put to film, and I wanted to hear your thoughts on how the film portrayed alcoholism.