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Rating: 4.25 out of 5
A brief history of the AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV, was it found its way to the United States as early as the 1960s but wasn’t first noticed after doctors discovered pneumonia in gay men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981. During the epidemic, many misconceptions were brought up, like where it ultimately came from and how it was passed on from person to person. The nonsense of shaking hands or even sitting next to someone who had AIDS could give you AIDS spread like wildfire until all of it was debunked. Now, treatment of HIV/AIDS is primarily via a “drug cocktail” of antiretroviral drugs and education programs to help people avoid infection.
According to HIV.gov, as of 2018, approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV today. About 14 percent of them (1 in 7) don’t know it and need testing. HIV continues to have a disproportionate impact on certain populations, particularly racial and ethnic minorities and gay and bisexual men. Some of the most known people have been affected by AIDS/HIV, from actor Charlie Sheen to famous basketball player Magic Johnson, renowned tennis player Arthur Ashe (from a blood transfusion), and so many others.
Philadelphia is a legal drama film written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme. The film is notable for being one of the earliest mainstream Hollywood films to put HIV/AIDS and homophobia in the forefront. It was also one of the first to portray gay people in a positive light. It has been compared to Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner as being one of the first films to display interracial relationships. It is 2022, the LGBT still gets ragged on, and it’s uncalled for. We are all people, and it shouldn’t matter. Be a supporter rather than an enemy.
In the city of Brotherly Love, Andrew Beckett (Hanks) is a hard-working, detailed, loyal, and one of the best young attorneys at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia: Wyant, Wheeler, Hellerman, Tetlow, and Brown. Andrew has kept his personal life concealed from the partners about his homosexuality. Through his hard work and effort, Andrew rises through the ranks and earns a promotion to senior associate. With the new promotion, Andrew is given one of the biggest cases in the firm. When one of the partners notices a lesion on Andrew’s forehead during Andrew’s promotion celebration, Andrew states that the lesion came from a racquetball injury. During a bloodwork test from his doctor, Andrew learns that he has contracted AIDS. Andrew spends some time at home as the disease makes him sick. When the case file goes missing, Andrew is fired from his job on the account of alleged incompetence. Suspecting that the deadly disease and his homosexuality were the reasons he was fired, Andrew decides that he is going to sue his former employers. When he searches for an attorney, none will take up his case. Andrew turns to an unlikely ally: the homophobic African American lawyer, Joe Miller (Washington). The two men hope to rise up against the ignorance in the country and show injustice and prejudice. Will they win the case or fall trying?
The way this film portrayed homosexuality and AIDS makes you see that it was a rough time, and it is still a rough time even today. LGBT still have to fight today for equal treatment and fight hard to even have same-sex marriage. Whatever happened to the pursuit of happiness? In the film, Andrew is fired because he is gay and homosexual, which is greatly against the law. You would think a law firm would know this, but some lawyers are sharks.
Where the movie really shows things is the people being homophobic and the misconception of AIDS. Joe Miller is homophobic and believes the lifestyle is wrong. He throws out slurs like they are skittles, and when he finds out Andrew has AIDS, he throws out all this misinformation that he heard you can get it from this and that. The development of Joe from a homophobic to one of a person that is accepting should be recognized. His first realization was that after being asked to be Andrew’s lawyer and turning him down, Joe goes to the library where Andrew is. Joe sees the prejudice that Andrew is going through when asked for a book on AIDS that he sees in the black community. As the case goes on, Joe starts to see Andrew as a person as he goes to his party and, during a talk, explains why he has his views on the way he grew up. Even though he is representing Andrew, his homophobic ways still come out. He almost fights a gay man in a store because he thinks he is gay. In the end, Joe really changes and comes to appreciate Andrew. The final interaction was priceless. Joe only touched Andrew’s hand once in the whole movie. When Andrew is on his death bed, Joe comes in and touches Andrew’s face because he knows his friend is about to be gone.
The court case is what you somewhat expect it to be. A major firm covering their ass and committing perjury on the stand. While watching the case, I thought for sure that one male juror would come down hard because he seemed to agree or nod his head when the defense was speaking. The case was a little intense at times, with Andrew’s former firm trying its best to discredit him. I think the most powerful scene came from Joe. When Joe was questioning a partner, he let the homophobic slurs fly. When the judge asked him to explain himself, he stated that this was a case about sexuality and not a firing. When the judge says this type of thinking doesn’t live in his courtroom, Joe rebuffs and states that they don’t live in his courtroom. You can see that the judge agreed. Yet, the BEST part of the whole movie and where I almost cried was with the verdict. In the deliberation, the one juror who I suspected actually was against the firm. When it came down, I had to cheer.
Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington were brilliant in their respective roles. Tom Hanks was especially great as he seemed to transform into a victim and showed the effects of AIDS. The whole scene with opera and the lighting turning red was chilling. Hanks deserved his Academy Award. Washington was great as Joe Miller. You embodied what many people thought about AIDS and the misconceptions about how it is spread. Yet, Washington is always Washington as he brings that energy.
Philadelphia is an intense movie that was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to put HIV/AIDS and homophobia in the forefront. The story should be watched as it hits on many points still relevant today. Hanks and Washington are excellent in their roles. Watch this film and cheer at the end for the verdict but also cry for the loss of a character.
