Review: Dallas Buyers Club

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Much of this year and reaching back into 2012, film audiences have been stunned by the overhaul that is Matthew McConaughey. The pretty boy actor formerly known for taking his shirt off in every movie he was in and only producing chick flicks and romcoms took a couple years off from acting and came back with the proclamation that he was only going to take roles that "scared him." Many actors have said similar things, but none have had the turn-around we've seen from McConaughey. With Magic Mike, Killer Joe, and Mud, McConaughey has proven that he can handle roles outside of being shirtless including comedic ones but also dark, ruthless killers. With Martin Scorses' star-studded Wolf of Wall Street still to be released this Christmas, McConaughey seems to be putting everything he's got into winning an Oscar this year.

But first, we must consider Dallas Buyers Club, the movie many critics are saying could potentially win McConaughey the Oscar. The film received early attention due to behind-the-scenes shots of a shockingly emaciated McConaughey who underwent extreme weight loss to portray real-life AIDS victim Ron Woodroof. Like Robert De Niro, Christian Bale, and others before him, McConaughey seemed to be going the route of extreme body-makeover to draw even more attention to his new dedication to serious acting. Along with the overwhelmingly positive reviews, I eagerly awaited Dallas Buyers Club to be released in a city near me. I didn't expect too much from the movie as a whole, but I figured it'd be worth seeing for McConaughey's undoubtedly great performance. Because as many Oscar hopefuls have demonstrated in the past, often times a film doesn't have much more to offer other than an impacting protagonist.

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Surprisingly enough, and much to my satisfaction, Dallas Buyers Club proved to have much more to offer. Set in the mid 1980's, the film tells how low-life, drug addict and alcoholic Ron Woodroof discovers he contracted HIV from a prostitute and developed AIDS as a result and is virtually days away from dying. At first, he tries to steal ACT, the newest drug approved by the FDA to combat the AIDS virus, but he soon finds that not only does it do next to nothing to relieve the effects of the disease, it makes it worse. With the help of an unlikely business partner, Rayon (Jared Leto), a gay-transvestite, Woodroof finds a way to bring a better set of drugs and treatment into the country to help treat other AIDS victims and make money on the side. Thus, the Dallas Buyers Club is born.

This story makes for a truly entertaining and compelling set of themes and events. For one, it's been a while since I've seen such an impacting look at people literally on the brink of death. Even though Woodroof's former life suggested disregard for safety and health, when he finds out death is just around the corner, the panic, sadness, and urgency in his actions and face are very believable. Not only does this lend more credence to McConaughey's expert performance, it calls for empathy for even the worst individuals and makes each of us wonder what we would do in such a situation.

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Historically, this film also reminds us of the atrocity and turmoil that was the emergence of AIDS, especially in the gay community. As a straight man and a general homophobe, Woodroof embodies an interesting case and a bridge between the gap that was set up between gays and the rest of society during this time. Rayon's character as well gives us a tangible and heart breaking example of someone estranged from their family and essentially left to die alone because of his orientation. Leto's performance is probably the best I've seen from him yet, and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a best supporting actor nomination, and his interaction with McConaughey is one of the best parts of the film.

On top of this, we get a relevant, valuable, and true depiction of how pharmaceutical companies, like any other business, don't really care about people and their health. They only care about making a profit. Even though Woodroof and other doctors had physical evidence of other drugs being more effective and healthier than the widely distributed ACT, the FDA would not budge and neither would the courts because of the influence such pharmaceutical companies had over drug policies. And this is not a problem of the past, these kind of battles still go on today. At one point, one of the characters in the film says something along the lines of "you would think that someone should be able to do whatever they can to live and the law shouldn't prevent them from doing so." Sadly, this is not the case.

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Woodroof is an example of how a close proximity to death, whether it be to yourself or to someone close to you, can completely change your outlook on life and those around you. In a way, it is the classic "what would you do if you were going to die tomorrow?" scenario, but at the same time, it's so much more because of the many themes and issues that the film tackles. And it does each of them justice in turn. In the end, Dallas Buyers Club does demonstrate McConaughey's talent once again, but it also provides audiences with valuable reflections. It will be interesting to see how this one does at the Oscars this year.