Philadelphia

What do you love about the law, Andrew?

Andrew Beckett is a gay lawyer infected with AIDS, who in spite of being his law firm's rising star, is fired on a trumped up charge of negligence. Refusing to accept defeat, Andrew manages to enlist the help of homophobic lawyer Joe Miller, whom it's hoped, can prove that the firm acted disgracefully out of fear of Andrew's illness. But can Joe throw off his own prejudice? Can Andrew keep it together as AIDS starts to take a hold?

Philadelphia was the film to really bring the horrors of AIDS to the masses. Though certainly not the first film to deal with the subject, films such as "An Early Frost (1985)" and "As Is (1986)" had led the way, Philadelphia is certainly the most memorable of all th...

Yet another of those movies I watched close to when it came out umpteen years ago, and only recently watched again.

For entertainment value, it hasnt aged particularly well for me. I am not sure I can even describe why, except that it seemed to lack energy. There are a lot of good small moments, but its big moments struggle to live up to their potential. The courtroom scenes slow the story down in places, and the climactic scene that decided the case wasnt convincing to me.

Still, this was an important movie addressing the AIDS when it came out, and the two low lead actors, even though they both give an understated performance, carry the film quite nicely.

Compelling performances by both Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. And to think I almost didn't watch this because the poster doesn't look like Hanks...

A dense, disturbing, difficult, but highly relevant film.

Well, those who has the patience and charity to read what I write may have already realized that I'm not a big fan of overly militant films, even if they are causes or ideas that I defend or with which I tend to agree. For me, cinema is above all entertainment and artistic expression, not a political, social or belief manifesto. However, it is really difficult not to make an exception when it comes to discrimination against people in the workplace. I know what my friendly reader is probably thinking: the film isn't about that, it's about AIDS. It is true. But AIDS is a pretext to justify what happens to that man. He is discriminated against and loses his job for being homosexu...

It's quite hard to overstate how significant this film was at a time when AIDS-driven homophobia was rife. Right from the outset with Bruce Springsteen's delicate opening ballad, this effectively counters an whole range of prejudices that prevailed not just in the USA but around the world. It's also, easily in my view, Tom Hanks's best performance as he plays hotshot lawyer "Andy" who has been feeling under the weather. Blood tests tell him the worst news that he shares with his loving family and boyfriend "Miguel" (Antonio Banderas) but he isn't really prepared to get fired from his job. Luckily, he had previously crossed paths with "Joe" (Denzel Washington) so he asks him to represent him in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit. "Andy" is candid ...