There may be a lot of reasons why I may like a movie. It maybe be the director, the starcast, the subject matter or simply a recommendation made by my friend. What first made me watch PHILADEPHIA was the casting of Tom Hanks in it. I found him the best actor in the 90s and the early 2000s . Its been a while after I first viewed this film and now I would rate Denzel Washington equally good and I now know that he has been involved in great films for almost 20 years now.
The story begins with lawyers Andrew Beckett (Hanks) and Joe Miller (Washington) battling each other in court. Beckett wins the case, and is promoted by his firm. He is entrusted with the task of representing one of the firm's most important clients. He's young, successful, and appears set to excel in his field. Miller is exposed as a TV celebrity and opportunist, who is more concerned with winning money for his clients than being ethical.Beckett is homosexual and contracts AIDS. He develops lesions all over his body, and some of them are visible. One of the firm's partners notices and fears that Beckett may have AIDS. Soon after, Beckett is fired. The rest of the film (read the 2nd half) is all about the court case and if you like Court case dramas, you would love it.
Apart from the great and intense acting from the protagonists, this film also raises quiet a lot of questions to our society.
Should someone be fired for having a life-threatening disease? Does it matter whether their current performance is exceptional, even though it will almost certainly deteriorate in the future?
The story educates both the audience and Miller during it's two-hour journey. Although we know much more about AIDS now, it was important to hear stories like this when the disease was relatively new on the scene. We see Miller getting as far away from Beckett initially as he could.He was homophobic. Many of us are still of the same thought even tough we claim to have embraced the modern and liberal lifestyle. Many people would not like to see the film for the same reason.
If you like good acting, serious drama and stories that matter, then PHILADELPHIA has to be in your best films list.The message is important enough to give this movie a go.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Tom Hanks got an academy award for his wonderful performance of Portraying Andrew beckett.
Philadelphia also won an Oscar for best song (Bruce Springsteen)
My Verdict
**** - Give it a go and you would not be dissapointed
No comments:
Post a Comment