Dallas Buyers Club [DVD] [2017]

I rented this from Lovefilm and thankfully, didn't have to wait an age to see it.Matthew McConaughey was brilliant. I've never seen him in a role like this before, so it was a real testimony to his versatility as an actor. Jared Leto was fantastic in it too - I didn't recognise him at first. He has a good pair of legs for a man! I was amazed at how much weight both these actors had had to lose for these roles and would question the ethics of acting here, but I suppose one must suffer for their art.....This film did highlight how far we've come in a relatively short time with regards to attitudes towards homosexuality and AIDS/HIV; though it is heartbreaking to think that people who were diagnosed with AIDS back then were automatically ostracised and labelled homosexual and it is heartbreaking to see how homosexual men and women were treated as if they were some sort of parasite and deserved their suffering. Thank god times - for the best part - have changed.I think what was most horrendous about this film was the lack of safe treatment and treatment on the whole for AIDS/HIV sufferers and how they used them as guinea pigs, not caring about the side effects of these treatments simply because those suffering from the disease were already dead as far as the medical profession were concerned. Things have changed a great deal in the 21st Century, but we all know what huge profits are made by pharmaceutical companies and how much American people must pay for medical insurance and thus treatment, if they can get insurance and thus treatment at all.Anyway, all in all, this is quite a heart wrenching film and while the main character, Ron Woodroof, is not so likeable, one can't help feeling desperately sorry for him and what he went through and to feel a sense of admiration for the courage he showed in putting up a fight for himself and for others to get the treatment they needed in order to prolong their lives.

Further to my previous review, said film was perfectly fine,no harm done. Thoroughly enjoyed it, anyone who hasn't seen it, I absolutely recommend this!

Absolutely love this film. Matt and Jared give outstanding portrayals of their characters. Based on the true story of Ron Woodman's fight to be able to treat himself with non FDA approved medication. Ron discovers he has developed AIDs and has trouble accepting the information and his 30 day time line until he starts reading and realises he had unprotected sex with a woman who had needle tracks up her arms. He meets Rayon (Jared Leto) whilst in hospital following a collapse and is downright rude to the transsexual character, you can hear the accusation in his tone and see it in his body language. Rayon is a lovely character and is flawlessly and sympathetically delivered by Leto.Rayon and Ron meet again later in the film as Ron starts up his "Dallas Buyers Club", where people pay for membership but not for the non FDA drugs he is supplying. They are more vitamin and mineral supplements that have shown to help AID's sufferers but because they are non FDA approved they are classed as illegal. Ron and Rayon are basically persecuted by the FDA but he fights on.When Rayon dies I dare you not to have tears in your eyes, his weak and breathy "I don't wanna die" is enough to make you grab the tissues.

Set in the mid 80s, a Texas cowboy employed as an electrician and part-time rodeo rider, who also appears to be a drugged-up, womaniser and alcoholic gets told by a doctor he has HIV/AIDS and has just 30 days to live. So what does he go and do... he becomes a 'drug' dealer of a 'company' called the Dallas Buyers Club, after realising the prescribed drug for a proposed study, AZT, is not safe, and doesn't work and he doesn't want to become just another guinea pig either..For my money the story of the legal drugs he gets to cure him and how he acquires illegal 'alternative' (meaning not recognised by the FDA) drugs and supplements from other countries to escape death is not the real story. Yes, he does 'appear' to get 'better' as the movie goes on, or maybe just doesn't get any worse. He seems functional, purposeful and turning things around, but he does suffer hallucinations, and 'blackouts' of a certain type, with a strange tinnitus kind of noise. He's in and out of hospital. Still drinking and doing drugs, after being advised to stop. He seems not to care on the one hand 'you've got to die of something' but on the other he seems determined to make something happen. We get to see those mood swings too.The real story though is about misinformation and ignorance of AIDS. About prejudice against LGBTs. About government corruption in the drugs industry (DEA) and how one man prolonged the life of many sufferers after refusing to accept his fate. He died eventually - seven years later. But this film is about what can be achieved in the face of adversity, In the light of knowing ones life is coming to and end - but not giving up. About not accepting what you are told - but not in a rebellious way. (e.g A recent cancer victim from the UK, who had terminal cancer died aged just 19 recently, but still fulfilled his bucket list and raised £3 million for charity before he passed away).This is movie is also about desperation, about life itself, about narrow-minded Texans who wrongly think HIV is only caught by non-straight people. This movie is not about the drugs at all. In my view, the drugs are just the 'end product' of dysfunctional, empty, unfulfilled lives and we get to see them unraveling before us.That sounds dramatic. And it was. But the movie wins and was a huge success because, mostly, the drama aspect is kept to a minimum. What we see is biographical, almost documentary type movie and one man's plight against a disease that's killing him. But his lifestyle is killing is him too. His utter naivety to accept that in the beginning comes through, but it's never meant in a preachy 'don't tell mom' kind of way. Jared Leto's transgender character is a moving portrayal of someone craving acceptance in society. In the end, he goes to see his father and tries to reconcile. He dies not long after. The caring doctor is played by Jennifer Garner, who seems genuinely interested in the care of the patients, as opposed to the older guy whose real intention is to make money for the drugs companies through using the patients as guinea pigs for drugs trials.Matt McConaughey and Leto both won an Oscar for their roles (that is incredibly rare in the same movie). This film was made for a paltry $5 mil, which is nothing by Hollywood standards. Is this a message then to Hollywood - you don't have to spend upwards of $75 mil to make a decent picture...just like the recent 'Out of the furnace'?Having worked in a hospital and seen many such things of this nature, I wasn't shocked or over-awed by all the needles and drugs and people passing out and lying on hospital beds. The film is very realistic in that sense.This was a very worth-while viewing experience. Not a complete joy to watch, but pretty close.