Purging the human spirit of prejudice

Rating: 7/10 (11 March 2017)

Matthew McConaughey gives a no-holds-barred, Oscar-winning performance as real-life medical rights pioneer Ron Woodroof, a profane, prejudiced Texas electrician/rodeo aficionado/crooked gambler, who contracted the HIV/AIDS virus in the mid-'80s (through either unprotected sex with an HIV-positive female or through drug use) and was given 30 days to live. Belligerent in his quest to keep himself alive--and finding no relief from the "wonder drug" AZT--Woodroof began obtaining powerful drugs from Mexico, Japan and other countries. Unapproved in the U.S. by the FDA, these 'illegal' medications proved to keep Woodroof alive, and also the many HIV-infected people who lined up outside his motel room to purchase them (much to the chagrin of the local medical professionals). McConaughey, painfully gaunt and thin, performs without a shred of vanity; his startling work here shows an actor of great courage and depth. As his drug-addicted transvestite sidekick, Jared Leto (also a deserved Oscar winner) is McConaughey's equal; their slowly developing admiration for each other is convincingly nonchalant, spare and lovely to watch. Jennifer Garner gives her finest performance to date as their doctor, who begins to realize her AZT studies are doing more harm than good, and Denis O'Hare is excellent as Garner's colleague-cum-adversary. A well-realized and incredible drama for adults, hampered now and then by prosy dialogue but almost always kept on-track by the performances, as well as by Jean-Marc Vallée's tight direction. *** from ****