Sorry I've been away so long loyal readers. Life has been a bit busy with buying and selling houses and moving so there hasn't been time to catch up on my movie reviews let alone see many movies. But I'm back with a few spare hours now!
Way back on the day before the Oscars I managed to see Dallas Buyers Club. It has lingered in my mind though with its heartbreaking tale of those left on the outer edge of society when the AIDS crisis hit America in the early 80s. Just like its Oscar competitor 12 Years a Slave, this movie is based on the true story of an inspirational man and sticks fairly close to the truth I'm guessing. The lead character who is in virtually every scene is Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaughey), an electrician and rodeo bull rider who is not just a hardcore partier, but also racist and homophobic. Ron and his mates love nothing more than rodeo, drinking, taking drugs and having sex with the numerous women who throw themselves at this 'celebrity'.
Ron's life is so fantastic to him, although it looks a little empty to us peering in from the outside. However, things soon take a bad turn as Ron's regular cough worsens until he eventually passes out. Taken to hospital, he is given the news that he has AIDS by Dr Sevard (Denis O'Hare) and Dr Eve (Jennifer Garner). Unable to believe that the doctors could be right 'because only gays get AIDS', Ron rejects the diagnosis, discharges himself and goes back to his partying ways. However, an escalation in his health issues soon has him researching his condition. He finds that some very promising treatments are available, but after a visit to the doctors he finds that those drugs are unavailable in the US. He is put on a drug that has been fast tracked to human use by the drug company greasing the wheels with the FDA (the US Food and Drug Administration Board) but he soon discovers that this drug is a bad idea when he has an overdose that nearly kills him.
The next part of the movie will seem farfetched to some viewers but to me this part was highly relatable due to a personal situation I'm aware of. It is a really really difficult issue to work out what should be added to schemes where the Government will dispense or subsidise a drug, or not. There are so many rules that should change and drugs that should be made available, but working in finance I'm also aware that there are not unlimited funds to subsidise every drug that would make one person better.
A Mexican doctor's treatments not only stave off the death that Dr Sevard and Eve have told him is imminent, but put Ron in the best health he's been in for ages after he kicks the drugs and alcohol. Unable to get a treatment that will work inside the US and clearly made unwelcome in his usual social situation, Ron decides to take matters into his own hands and start the "Dallas Buyers Club" where he will import (illegally) the treatments that he has found south of the border and provide them to the members of his club who have paid membership fees.
The portrayal of Ron is an astonishing performance from Matthew McConaughey. The physical transformation of his body is amazing, but the most impressive part is the way he portrays the gradual breaking down of his previously offensive views. This is no overnight change that is hard to believe though. It's really a testament to the character of Rayon (a gorgeously fragile Jared Leto), a transgender woman who Ron meets in the hospital and eventually begs for assistance with increasing the membership of the club. At first Ron's motives are pretty selfish and he treats Rayon pretty awfully for a long while, but Rayon's sweetness and fragility eventually lead Ron to tolerance if not embracing the gay community. There is so much believability here.
There are so many great moments in this film as Ron kicks against the FDA, beaks down his own prejudice and gradually breaks down Eve's loyalty to the hospital and its toxic drug program. However it is mind-blowing how the evidence of Ron's treatment could be so ignored when so many people were dying. The movie has very few light moments or laughs so it could be a little hardgoing if you've had a bad day. But in the right frame of mind you could find this a beautiful story of redemption. As Jared Leto said in his Oscar acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor, this one is for the outsiders. I give this 4.5 stars out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment