I typically do not see Oscar-nominated best film candidates. They just aren't what I would call fun. All good movies I am sure, but not what I want when I look to escape my day-to-day with a some entertainment. At our house we are definitely more comedy and action than drama. So it was a bit of a departure for us to settle in to watch Dallas Buyers Club last night.
Dallas Buyers Club is the story of Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaughey), an electrician who contracted HIV in the early/mid 1980s and was given 30 days to live. The movie chronicles how Woodruff found a way to survive and bring help to other HIV-positive people through the creation of a buyer's club. A buyer's club is an organization where the members pay dues to get access to the club's resources, in this case non-FDA approved drugs to treat HIV and/or the symptoms of AIDS.
The movie gives a pretty stark portrayal of the drugs and unprotected sex that was (likely) rampant back in the early 80s and the impact of that destructive lifestyle on the characters. It is also critical of the drug trial/FDA approval process, making you question whether policy and the process of approving drugs should be given precedence over letting terminally ill patients get access to the medicine they need to make their lives comfortable.
I personally feel that doctors can help patients and the drug approval process can help protect people from negligence to a point. However, neither are infallible and it is important that individuals research and look out for themselves to ensure that they get the best care for themselves. In the movie that is what many of the characters are doing. Searching for options to make their lives better while dealing with a serious medical condition. The movie also shows some of the conflict of interest where physicians are running trials sponsored by the drug companies that are seeking FDA approval that will earn them a hefty return on their investment (which they are entitled to when they solve a medical problem - maybe not quite so much, but that is a different issue). Dallas Buyers Club is also very critical of AZT, a failed cancer drug candidate that has later been used in conjunction with other drugs to manage health of HIV-infected individuals.
As with any biographical movie, there are differences between reality and the film. The movie is takes some extremes for some characters, introduces others, like Rayon (Jared Leto) and Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner), that are composites of people the writers interviewed and completely fictional. Dallas Buyers Club does not say that it is a true story, so you have to look past things like that in the effort to make a compelling and commercially viable movie.
It is understandable why Leto and McConaughey have both won Academy Awards for their work in the film where they both give raw and emaciated performances. What was most interesting for me was the conversation that the film prompted with my wife and daughter (who is in her late teens) after we finished it. A discussion on health care, how HIV infections started and spread and about AIDS. We normally don't have those types of conversations started because of a movie we watched.
For an interesting (and frustrating because of the things the characters go through) movie, Dallas Buyers Club is worth a look. If you have problems with racism and drug use and language and sex, you will have difficulty sitting through this one as they are rampant. Dallas Buyers Club gets 4 Mick Happies. Now I need to go watch a comedy to cleanse my brain.
