A Marginal Man's Transformation Brings Hopes to Humanity

Rating: 8/10 (25 February 2014)

It is a great movie. I thought Leonardo DeCaprio would win the Oscar before I saw this but now I am not so sure. Matthew McConaughey is so convincing in transforming himself into an AIDS patient who never quits fighting for his own life. He even walks like such an unlikeable character: a swaggering womanizing drug user who works as an electrician. His stares, snarls, swears, and care are all so impressive.
Based on a true story, The Dallas Buyers Club tells us how Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), after being diagnosed of AIDS in 1985 and only had 30 days to live, refused to wait to die but chose to fight head on with the disease, the medical community and government bureaucracy to obtain/smuggle pharmaceutical drugs that worked for him and other patients like him.
What I like about the movie is the spirit Ron Woodroof represents: he never quits and he never takes no as an answer. He is smarter than he looks. Initially denying his condition, he researches into AIDS, how people got it and what is being used to treat the disease. He lives around the system to survive on the edges. But he is not just surviving.
By the end of the movie he has transcended his battle for mere existence/surviving into selflessly helping those in desperate need as he is. There is a sense of admirable quality in him despite his promiscuity and abuses in drugs. Countering the plight of his rapidly diminishing life amid an incurable disease has overshadowed his homophobia and the chase for monetary reward. His desperation has driven him to work around, inside and outside the system, thus challenging the inflexibility of law and bureaucracy.
Ron is a gambler throughout the movie, from hustling bets on the rodeos, to trafficking unapproved drugs from Mexico and bribing officials and professional to get what he wants, to setting up a group to supply unapproved but workable drugs to patients who need them. He has tremendous confidence and uses whatever works to get what he wants. All through his life, he energetically grips very tight control on his life, just as he holds tight onto the rodeo.
This is essentially a story of the marginal people. Ron and his transsexual partner Rayon (Jared Leto), together with the Dallas Club Buyers members, mostly gay, were shunned by society in the mid-80s when AIDS was first discovered. Being diagnosed with AIDS with limited knowledge on its association with the gay community and few effective medicine available, they were never taken seriously by the mainstream society even though their lives were threatened. Yet, through Ron and the hard work of his club, we can see a respect for humanity regardless of people's lifestyle and sexual orientation.
While the real Ron's sexual orientation is unclear (perhaps for marketing reasons and dramatic effect, Ron is portrayed in the film as strictly straight and even flirts with his doctor), the film portrays a natural yet convincing shift of an angry, redneck homophobic into a diligent researcher/experimenter who put his own life on the table.
Spotting a chance to make money, he begins to work closely with the gay community. As their deterioration slow down he feels more confident of his own way of combating the disease. Yet when his partner eventually dies, either from the toxic new medicine or his own abuse in drugs, Ron realizes that death is the final equalizer therefore even financial difficulties of the club is not a problem anymore. At this juncture, we can see, and as Ron tells us, he does not merely want to live, but also leave a legacy during the limited time he has on earth. For that it is admirable.
Excellent performance of Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto who shed 47 and 30 pounds respectively for their roles. Bravo to the journalist who interviewed the real Ron Woodroof a few weeks before he died which inspired producers to make this movie. Hats off to the producers and script writers who turned such a depressing and misunderstood matter into an encouraging crusade of humankind.
If we believe life is beautiful, then law, bureaucracy, business, and medical research should put human's wellbeing in the utmost priority. Our protagonist has vividly demonstrated this. Must see.