ironhorse_iv
This movie made me cry like a baby when I first saw it, and still does now. It shows humanity, compassion, love and loss. People really can be beautiful if they try just a little. This ground-breaking, historically-significant, and realistic film from director, Jonathan Demme was one of the first major mainstream studio produce films to confront the AIDS issue from a medical, political, and societal point of view. Inspired by the true stories of attorneys Geoffrey Bowers & Clarence B. Cain, who, successfully sued the law firm that fired them in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases of wrongful dismissal. The movie loosely create a similar fictional story of a gay lawyer, Andrew Becket (Tom Hanks), having to sue his law firm over job discrimination when he got contracted with HIV/AIDS virus, with the help of a personal injury lawyer/friend, Joe Miller (Denzel Washington). Written by Ron Nyswaner, the movie had some controversy when it was first released, because how similar, the fictional story of Philadelphia was to Geoffrey Bowers. The family of Bowers, sued the writers and producers of the film, because of this, but it was quickly settled out of court. Although this movie was well-intentioned and compelling, it was also criticized by gay groups at the time, for the studio trying to attempted to block the casting of the HIV-positive, actor Ron Vawternote , until director Jonathan Demme pointed out how hypocritical this would be in the face of the film's message. Another thing, that got gay groups mad, is downplaying the affectionate romance between Andrew Becket and his lover, Miguel Alvarez (Antonio Banderas); as well, as not allowing the character to seem like anything less than the patron saint of AIDS victims. Yes, the character seem like American Boy Scout, however, in my opinion, I don't mind, the many compromises for mainstream audiences. After all, it got me, to watch the movie, when I wouldn't have watch it, otherwise. If anything, the main character of the film is arguably Joe, as he is the one to go through character development. It's nice to see him, warm up to the idea of helping Andrew, without feeling too preachy. Coming after HBO-TV docu-drama, 'And the Band Played On' about the growing AIDS crisis. The presence of two major American straight actors, Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington really helped to broaden awareness about the problematic disease. It also help bridged actor Tom Hanks' earlier career as a comedian to the more sober and serious side of his dramatic career. Tom Hanks is amazing in this role. The fact that Hanks lost 35 pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role, shows how committed he was, to the role. He really gave a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar. I'm pretty glad, he did win, Best Actor that year. I also love the fact that Hanks' Oscar acceptance speech, also help inspired the conflict in 1997's In & Out. It's also funny to hear that Denzel Washington, on the other hand, was asked to gain a few pounds for his role. Washington, to the chagrin of Hanks, who practically starved himself for the role, would often eat chocolate bars in front of him. Wow, what a joker! The drama also made effective use of the music. 'Philadelphia' has some of the best music, made for a film. Composer Howard Shore's 'Precedent" is still one of the purest track I have ever heard. Then, there are the fans and critic's favorite song, 'Streets of Philadelphia' by singer, Bruce Springsteen whom music video and the opening of the movie, able to shows the city in all its aspects — both the bright, shiny downtown landmarks, and the poor areas — minority, homeless, urban blight, and decay. While, it is a tear-jerking song. In my opinion, the song that deserve the Oscar, wasn't Bruce Springsteen, but music artist, Neil Young's song, 'Philadelphia'. In my opinion, the film without Neil Young's song, wouldn't have touched as many as it did, because of it. That song still makes me cry, when I hear it. It's such as a beautiful journey of emotional. Overall: This groundbreaking and moving drama is absolutely astonishing. A must watch for anybody with a heart.
FilmBuff1994
Philadelphia is a good movie with a reasonably well developed storyline and an outstanding cast. The highlight of the film and the thing that holds it all together is without a doubt the performances, Tom Hanks is a down on his luck homosexual, he is believable in every moment, a well deserved Oscar win. Denzel Washington also shines as his homophobic lawyer who is still willing to win his case, the bond that forms between them throughout the movie is terrific and the main reason I did not rate this lower. My main disappointment was that it was, to put it bluntly, cheesy, we are expected to care for these characters before we even know anything about them, and it was clear that the director was hoping to have us in tears. The delivery of the emotional scenes was too straight forward that you could not get teary eyed. This may not be a problem for some viewers, but I found it very dated, it's hard to get sucked in to a story about gay rights when that has improved so much today, as well as that it portrays AIDS as a deadly disease, which of course it was back then, but today it's not a big deal which makes it harder to feel genuine concern for Andrew. While it has many imperfections, the performances are terrific and if you're a fan of Hanks and Washington, which you certainly should be, then it's worth the watch. When a gay lawyer is unfairly fired from work, he hires a homophobic man to take the case. Best Performance: Tom Hanks
