Dallas Buyers Club (FILM REVIEW)
Dallas Buyers Club
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Matthew McConaughey Delivers Oscar-Quality Performance in
Bittersweet Biopic
Ron Woodroof (Matthew
McConaughey) was informed that he had just 30 days to live when he was diagnosed
as HIV+ in 1986. At that time, the Food and Drug Administration was dragging
its feet in terms of finding a cure, perhaps because AIDS was still considered by
many to be a gay disease.
While pharmaceuticals
elsewhere around the world were studiously testing hundreds of chemical
compounds in hopes of developing an antidote, the only one approved for
distribution in America
was AZT, a medication so toxic to Ron’s system that it almost killed him. Rather
than resign himself to a quick demise, the tough as nails Texan resolved to
fight for his life.
First, he
visited a clinic in Mexico
promoting a promising cocktail of alternative therapies, purchasing a supply sufficient
to test the experimental regimen on himself. When the trial proved effective, he
snuck back across the border, posing as a priest, to smuggle a trunk full of
pills out of the country.
Soon
thereafter, the enterprising electrician founded the Dallas Buyers Club as a
viable way of skirting the law to distribute unapproved substances such as
Interferon, Peptide T and Compound Q. A mere $400 per month would afford
members access to a variety of state-of-the-art, AIDS remedies.
Despite his
homophobia, the gruff, good ol’ boy went into business with a partner with deep
roots in the gay community. Flamboyant Rayon (Jared Leto), an HIV+ transsexual,
played a pivotal role in attracting a loyal clientele of fellow AIDS patients,
since Ron was a given to employing offensive slurs when referring to
homosexuals. Together, the unlikely pair built the fledgling enterprise into an
economic success which provided a priceless service for patients frustrated by
the FDA’s delayed response to the epidemic.
Directed by
Jean-Marc Vallee (Café de Flore), Dallas Buyers Club recounts Ron Woodroof’s desperate
struggle to survive in the face of a governmental bureaucracy that appeared to
not care. The movie was inspired by “Buying Time,” an article by Bill
Minutaglio which appeared in the Dallas Morning News on August 9, 1992.
Riddled with historical inaccuracies, the
bittersweet biopic frequently plays
fast and loose with the facts in favor of fashioning an entertaining tale as
dictated by the Hollywood fantasy formula.
Truth be told, the real-life Ron was apparently not as intolerant
of homosexuality as depicted. Furthermore, he was initially given a two-year
life expectancy by his doctor, not the mere month stipulated in the picture.
Perhaps most importantly, some of the overpriced
drugs he imported were banned for very good reason. Nevertheless, the fairytale
related here is a terrific tour de force likely, at last, to land Matthew
McConaughey that elusive Oscar nomination.
For, not
only does the lanky thespian convincingly convey the acute mental anguish of an
AIDS-ravaged soul but he even shed about 50 pounds for the role. Sexual
politics make strange bedfellows, too!
Excellent
(4 stars)
Rated R
for nudity, drug use, graphic sexuality, pervasive profanity, ethnic slurs and
homophobic slurs
Running time: 117 minutes
Distributor: Focus
Features
To see a trailer for Dallas
Buyers Club, visit:
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