The AIDS film they didn't want to make

Rating: 9/10 (9 February 2014)

Ron Woodruff(Matthew McConaughey)is portrayed as an electrician and part time macho bull rider in Dallas, Texas in the mid-eighties. He was shown to have strong homophobic views and was devastated to learn that we had HIV through unprotected sex with a drug user. His doctor, Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner) gives him 30 days to get his affairs in order. Ron is, firstly, dismissive of her diagnosis but then remembers his prior contact. He gives the finger to his doctors & friends, who shun him. The movie charts his education with regard to the limited options in the USA and his travels worldwide to buy the unapproved (by the FDA)drugs to prolong his life. He realises, before his doctors, that the drug AZT had a negative effect. He meets Rayon (Jared Leto)who is an AIDS infected, trans-gender drug addict. He firstly see Rayon as everything he finds abhorrent about homosexuals but then realises that he needs Rayon to sell his drugs to the gay community. Woodruff creates the Dallas Buyers Club to sell his illegal drugs, $400 membership fee & free drugs. I guess that this is a modern day "Streets of Philadelphia", reminding us of the panic & ignorance in the eighties when AIDS was mentioned. The grudging friendship between Woodruff & Rayon was very poignant. The performance by the two male leads is spectacular. Their physical appearance is breathtaking, especially McConaughey during the court scene at the end of the picture. The scene that will stay with me was with McConaughey & Garner when he tells her "I feel I'm fighting for a life I ain't got the time to live". If McConaughey is not honoured by the academy then I'll eat my hat.