Yet all in all this dramatic film brought a message home.
Denzel's views of homosexuality were (and still are) commonplace in the American psyche and his reactions to AIDS were understandable to the average audience. Denzel Washington, on the other hand, allowed America to have a relatable character, one whose shoes we've fit in before. Beckett, brilliantly gave AIDS an honest face for a distant America. This was a painful truth, but it is a truth nonetheless. No one is perfect (gay or straight, male or female) and mistakes are often made. Yet as time has gone by and I have had the opportunity to work with many a victim of AIDS, whether be it male or female, gay or straight, I have seen that this too is an unfortunate reality. This annoyed me because I wanted a righteous victim, not a impure victim. The other, mildly annoying, factor in this film is that the writers inform us that squeaky-clean gay Andrew Beckett contracts AIDS at a porn theater from an anonymous stranger, while in a committed relationship. Many a Christmas party have I attended with the same crowd ("fems" and drag queens) in the mix. These scenes are few, but are also a reality. Stereotypes are mostly shied away from in the script with a few "fem" gays and drag queens.
Tom Hanks and the writers took to task the difficult and annoyingly controversial hurdle of playing the "gay" character and placing the "straight" audience into that different world. Tom Hanks embodied his role in an Oscar-worthy performance, allowing us to watch as his lovely and lively Andrew Beckett deteriorate before our eyes. By placing the film in the "City of Brotherly Love", hiring Bruce Springsteen to sing the title song and having an up-and-coming Tom Hanks star, director Jonathan Demme wisely readied an ignorant America for our first, uninhibited glance into the face of AIDS. found solace in the idea that AIDS and homosexuality were dirty brothers in a distant family. At the time that this film was released (about 1993), the U.S.
AIDS is a reality and homophobia is a nasty truth that permeates our "United" States of America, as well as the rest of the world. The sheer idea that a film would so blatantly take on the difficulty of AIDS and homosexuality, helmed by the director of "Silence of the Lambs", the actor in "Big" and the guy who played Malcom X, is staggering. Jonathan Demme's "Philadelphia" throws us into a world of pain and stark truth that is few and far between in mainstream cinema. that comes down from the heavens, and makes of the Earth a heaven. Is everything around you just the blood and mud? I am divine. listen."I bring sorrow to those who love me." Oh, that single cello! "It was during this sorrow that love came to me." A voice filled with harmony. The music fills with a hope, and that'll change again. "Look, the place that cradled me is burning." Can you hear the heartache in her voice? Can you feel it, Joe? In come the strings, and it changes everything. She's saying how during the French Revolution, a mob set fire to her house, and her mother died. This is "Andrea Chenier", Umberto Giordano. Joe Miller: I'm not that familiar with opera.Īndrew Beckett: This is my favorite aria.
0 kommentar(er)
