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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Philadelphia


4 pipes out of 4

A 1993 best picture winner and it completely deserves it. This is easily the best movie that I have ever seen. The acting was absolutely superb and could not have been done any better by any other actors. Philadelphia follows lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks), who is gay and has AIDS, is suing his former law firm for wrongful termination. He contracts a former opponent lawyer Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) to take his case to court. Antonio Banderas also costars in the film as Andrew’s partner causing an interesting dynamic between these three big names. Philadelphia brings to the forefront a huge issue that was being dealt with throughout the 70’, 80’s with the misconception of AIDS. Andrew was fired from his job because he contracted AIDS and his work ethic as well as personal life is called into question. What I like best about Philadelphia is that Miller begins the movie with a hatred of homosexuals and fear of AIDS but as the movie progresses we see him to begin to change his beliefs. He is not changed completely by the end which ads a sense of realism to the film. The issue of homosexuality is not the only thing that is called into question for it causes the audience to question all of our views on whether we discriminate in some way and if we were taught to do so by society. One of the best scenes of the film is when Hanks and Washington are going over Hanks’ Q&A of the trial for the next day. As Washington continues to ask Hanks questions, Hanks diverts them by asking Washington his own questions about beliefs. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very difficult movie to watch and at times is quite depressing, it also doesn’t help that you can pretty much guess what happens to Beckett at the end of the movie. This will be the first movie that I have ever rated as a 5 pipes out of 5 and it was completely unexpected. I had heard that it was a very good film but I had no idea how good it was. It will be very difficult for any movie to top the masterpiece that is Philadelphia.

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