Review of Dallas Buyers Club (2013) by Filipeneto — 23 Feb 2018

In this film, the irreverent and provocative Ron Woodroof, a Texan womanizer, discovers his surprise, that he has AIDS, and decides to seek medication and more effective treatments than those that existed at the time, making them available to those who do not they could afford, and combating the prejudices that exist around the disease, and that he also shared. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, the film has screenplay by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack, with Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner in the lead roles.

The recipe for success of this film begins with the story: it is a true story based on people who really existed and who fought to humanize the lives of AIDS patients, a disease with no cure but more understood today. However, McConaughey's Woodroof is not a hero, is far from it. It begins to be a hateful and prejudiced character, and only at the end we see how his fight changed the way he thinks. In any case, this is definitely the consecration of work of this actor, who has achieved an outstanding performance, as well as Leto, whose sensitivity and fight against social prejudices made him a symbol of a certain type of AIDS patients. Moreover, both actors were awarded the Oscar for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. A prize, I think, more than deserved. The film has a good photograph, visual and sound effects do their role, as well as the soundtrack, which is not surprising.

There are several notable films about AIDS universe, homosexuality and drugs. In fact, most of the films that address one of these issues end up invariably by address or touch the other two. "Philadelphia" is a paradigmatic example. This is a film with feelings but tries not to be cheesy with it, and not focus a lot on advocacy, flags or any kind of argument. Seen on this light, this film does not seem to be biased, which is very positive and difficult to achieve when you make a movie around socially divisive issues.