An Ayn Rand, Objectivist Statement About Self-Interest

Rating: 10/10 (28 February 2014)

Spoiler Alert: Enjoy the movie first if you don't want to be sullied by another's opinion.
Back in the '80s many people thought HIV and AIDS were the same thing. There was a lot of ignorance on the part of doctors and practitioners alike.
What this movie show and shows well is that ignorance can be overcome. It's easier for a person to be moved than an institution. And it accurately shows how self-interest is a better motivator than restriction. Ayn Rand would have seen this message and understood how self- interest can motivate a person to accomplishments far beyond his or her reach.
But the movie is not an Objectivist propaganda piece nor is it a total condemnation of the medical field. It is a condemnation of how restrictive thinking can harm many more people than it helps and that is the bigger message in this multi-messaged movie.
McConaughey plays Ron Woodruff a real-life character in every sense of the word. He's a hard living, hard drinking rodeo rough-stock rider back before professional bull riding became a popular TV and international sport. There is no way to know how accurate the story is but one suspects that the real Ron embodied many of the most negative qualities of the "redneck" lifestyle including prejudice.
But in a very "Atlas Shrugged" or "Fountainhead" sense, self interest can open a person's eyes and apparently that's what happened to Ron.
McConaughey has taken some pretty gritty roles. His portrayal of Ron closely resembles the character he has created for his character in "True Detective" a cable crime drama. But the grittiness of strip joints, drugs and alcohol don't override the interesting parts of this movie. They are there like a painting may have blue pigment but not be a blue painting. It's there to show where Ron came from. He was medically ignorant and so into self-satisfaction that he never gave a thought to anyone else. There is a moment in the movie when he returns to his single wide only to find "Faggot Blood" pained on his door and every side of the trailer. His still ignorant friends think he must be a "faggot" to contract HIV and AIDS. There is no indication that their opinion was ever changed which shows that self-interest is a greater educational tool than propaganda.
Ron battles everyone but especially the government who through petty functionaries (After all, they are only following orders and the law.) fight ever move assiduously to enforce restrictions that have no purpose other than to line the pockets of established US drug companies. In that sense, the movie is a pot boiler where nobody wins and every success is nothing more than a stop at an oasis during a long desert march.
There are many drugs that are sold internationally that are not approved by the FDA and many that are. A quick scan of TV ads for legal drugs to combat everything from arthritis to high cholesterol gives a list of side effects that are perilous indeed. One wonders. . .
The fight for sick people to injects what the hell they want in the Libertarian sense will go on as long as drug company self interest are heeded above individual self interest.
The "Dallas Buyers Club" is a must see movie. It's at least as good as the Pacino effort "You Don't Know Jack" about another stalwart who is fighting to ease the pain of patients in opposition to the feds.
M 10 The characters are well done all.