Dallas Buyers Club

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2014)

I think it was only when awards season started that I heard more about this film, including the drastic measures two of the stars went to bring this real life events movie to the big screen, so I was very intrigued to see it, from director Jean-Marc Vallée (The Young Victoria). Basically, in Dallas in 1985, homophobic electrician and rodeo bull riding cowboy Ron Woodroof (Oscar and Golden Globe winning Matthew McConaughey) is diagnosed with HIV, he is predicted to have only thirty days to live, he refuses to believe this, but he remembers an unprotected sexual encounter with a user of intravenous drugs. He is shunned away by his family and friends due to his illness, but Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner) assures him of tests for antiviral drugs, including one called AZT (azidothymidine) that could prolong life for AIDS patients, and the only one allowed for humans by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), he is also told the only way to determine if the drug is working is with half sick patients getting the drug and the other half getting placebos. Ron starts bribing a hospital worker to get him more AZT, but he finds his health deteriorating, but he is also taking cocaine excessively, he at one time ends up hospital again, and sharing a ward with and being hostile towards HIV positive transgender woman Rayon, formerly Raymond (Oscar and Golden Globe winning Jared Leto). He next drives all the way to Mexico to get more AZT from a hospital, there he meets Dr. Vass (Griffin Dunne), who had his medical licence revoked, he confirms the drug is "poisonous" and "kills every cell it comes into contact with", so he prescribes him ddC (dideoxycytidine) and the protein peptide T, they are not approved by the U.S., but three months pass and his health is much improved. Ron sees this as an opportunity to make some money, selling these to other HIV patients, with them being illegal he gets away with getting them over the border posing as a priest and swearing that they are for personal use, also Saks sees the negative effects of AZT to HIV patients, but her supervisor Dr. Sevard (Denis O'Hare) says it cannot be discontinued. Ron sells the drugs from Mexico on the street, and after being back in contact with him Rayon becomes his business partner as she can get him more contacts, the "Dallas Buyers Club" is established with $400 a month membership for HIV patients, becoming very popular, and over time Ron respects Rayon and sees her as a friend. Sevard learns of the club after Ron has a heart attack and ends up in hospital again, he is angry of the alternative medication use and it interrupting his trial, and FDA member Richard Barkley (Michael O'Neill) threatens to have the club manager arrested, but Saks sees the positives of what the club is doing for the sick people joining, she is powerless to do anything to stop the laws halting the distribution of illegal drugs, but she and Rib strike a friendship. Barkley does get permission for the police to raid the Dallas Buyers Club, but Ron only gets a fine, but the FDA make it illegal to have unapproved drugs used, cocaine addicted Rayon begs his father for money to continue funding for the club, and sells his life insurance policy, so this allows Ron to travel to Mexico again, but he is devastated to learn that Rayon has died being put in hospital and put on AZT, this also upsets Saks, and she is asked to resign for involvement in the Buyers Club activities, but she ignores this and says that she should be fired. Over time Ron has compassion for homosexuals in the club, and he sees making money as a lesser concern, so he makes the drugs more the priority, but it is 1987 Peptide D becomes difficult to get hold of, he files for a lawsuit against the FDA for the legal use of the unapproved protein, explaining the benefits, the judge shows compassion but cannot do anything to combat the laws, the film ends explaining that FDA eventually did approve Peptide D, and that Ron Woodroof finally died of AIDS in 1992, seven years after doctors predicted how long he had left. Also starring Steve Zahn as Tucker, Dallas Roberts as David Wayne and Kevin Rankin as T.J. McConaughey, who lost over 3 stone of weight for the role, plays the man keeping himself alive and making money trying to help other people in the same position superbly, you see him as a hero rather than a victim to his disease, Garner is likable as the sympathetic doctor, and Leto, who lost over 2 stone, almost steals the show as the camp and lively but also fragile transsexual. This real life based film apparently took over twenty years and a number of attempts to bring to the big screen, and when you realise the drastic measures the actors went to for the realism it really does grip you, it is refreshing to get an alternative pretty much unsentimental view of the AIDS crisis of the 80's, with plausibility of homophobia and racism, all combined adds up to a refreshing and subtly brilliant drama based on a true story. It won the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and it was nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Film Editing and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Very good!