By Suzanne A. Marshall from the September 2015 Edition
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto
Director: Jean-Marc Vallee
“In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.”
This is a very tough movie to watch. A very gaunt looking Matthew McConaughey delivers an extremely impressive performance in this true story which delivers a persona of the main character Ron Woodroof, that defies likability in spite of his ultimate accomplishment. He’s a nasty guy. He’s foul and bigoted. He lives hard, plays hard, drinks too much and screws everything or one that he can get his hands on. It’s not shocking then that he is ultimately diagnosed with HIV and given 30 days to live.
From there the nightmarish journey of his combat with the virus and the search for alternative medicines which offset a host of ineffective government-approved medications is pretty incredible. The fact that he’s a really nasty guy doesn’t take away from the fact that he ultimately survives well beyond his diagnosis. He rallies a huge following of other AIDs victims who benefit from his medicinal pursuits which are gained mostly illegally and through his sheer stubborn resilience. It is quite an astonishing story and was nominated for six academy awards as a result.
Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto both won for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor at the 2013 Oscars for their roles in this film.
IMDB rated this movie as 8/10 based on 280,481 viewers
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Suzanne A. Marshall hails from western Canada and has been living the good life in Manzanillo over the past 8 years. She is a wife, mom and grandma. She is retired from executive business management where her writing skills focused on bureaucratic policy, marketing and business newsletters. Now she shares the fun and joy of writing about everyday life experiences in beautiful Manzanillo, Mexico, the country, its people, the places and the events.
