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| (Photo by Anne Marie Fox/ Focus Features) Jared Leto as Rayon & Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof. |
Some of the scenes from
director Jean Marc Valleé’s film “The Dallas Buyers Club” may be hard to watch, but don’t let this stop
you from seeing this important film. People
born after 1982 have no conception of what life was like for gay men suffering
from HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. The disease
is transmitted through unprotected sex (sans condom) with an infected partner. Some intravenous drug users also contracted
the disease from dirty needles. When it
was discovered that people could be infected through blood transfusions, blood
was then tested for the virus. Drug
users were told to use only new, clean needles, and some clinics provided a
needle exchange service. However, this
practice was controversial and many conservatives, religious groups, and right
wing officeholders spoke against it and blocked it.
Vallée focused
on true events of seven years in the life of Ron Woodroof, a heterosexual, homophobic
Texas cowboy. One day in 1985, he
ended up in the hospital because of a work-related injury (he was an
electrician). Dr. Sevard (Denis O’Hare)
tells him he has HIV/AIDS and has thirty days to live. He reacts as you would expect, shouting, “I
ain’t no faggot!” then tells the doctor
to “fuck off” as he stomps out.
Actor Matthew
McConaughey is known for such film rôles as a liberal Southern lawyer; the
leader of a male-stripper dance troupe in “Magic Mike;” outlaw, self-exiled, island recluse in
“Mud,” and heart-breaker in a few rom-coms.
In “The Dallas Buyers Club," he had lost about thirty pounds to play Woodroof and comes
off as totally believable. In his cowboy
hat, tight jeans, and boots he looks dangerously thin, but it no way detracts
from his swaggering cowboy studliness. Ron
is a schemer. He works the rodeos, readying
steer riders before they are shot out of the chutes. He bets on rides and events, usually winning
and appears to have a lot of money. It
doesn’t hurt that there are artful scenes of him in a ménage a trois with a blond and a brunette.
Later, after his
diagnosis (which he vehemently denies), we see him in a bar where he and his
buddies pore over a newspaper, commenting derisively as they read the shocking
headline that leading man, movie star Rock Hudson had died – of AIDS. Soon, word gets around about Ron. His friends and co-workers ostracize him;
he’s evicted from his home in a trailer park: “Faggot Blood” had been
spray-painted on his trailer. Another
altercation where he’s seriously injured attracts the police, one of whom,
luckily, happens to be his tolerant, caring brother, Tucker (Steve Zahn). Tucker drives him to the hospital where he
meets his transgender roommate, Rayon, beautifully played by Jared Leto (lead
singer and guitarist from 30 Seconds to Mars, who had also shed pounds for the
film). Ron tosses off some homophobic remarks. Ray has heard them all before so lets them pass with a shrug.
Ron grudgingly accepts Ray's friendship once he deals with the fact that he’s infected. In researching the
disease and finding that one of the causes is unprotected sex with infected people, he recalls instances of engaging in this activity with several partners, sometimes involving both men and women.
Jennifer Garner plays a sympathetic Dr. Eve
Saks. She and Sevard tell Ron about blind
AZT clinical trials and that it could be years before he could participate. He connects with a hospital orderly who
steals the drug for him. When the
hospital starts keeping track, he gives Ron the address of Dr. Vass (bearded,
scruffy Griffin Dunne) in Mexico. Vass warns
him of the dangers of AZT and gives him supplies of “safe” drugs. Woodroof and Rayon set up a kind of
dispensary in a motel to sell the contraband drugs and make a lot of
money. His lawyer, David Wayne (Dallas
Roberts of “The Good Wife”), advises him to set up his “business” as a club and
charge a membership fee, otherwise, the IRS would get on his case- hence, The
Dallas Buyers Club. During another
visit, Dr. Vass explains the importance of a healthy immune system to fight the
disease, that he must change his diet, stop drinking and using cocaine. A scene of Woodroof and Rayon shopping in a
supermarket lends a light touch to the film and allows us to experience their
caring relationship and respect. He reaches
a breakthrough when he realizes that he not only wants to save his own life,
but those of others he has come to know and care about, especially Rayon.
Soon he is hounded by the FDA, his “club” shut
down, stock and supplies confiscated.
In a well-tailored black suit and black cowboy hat, he flies to Japan
following leads to obtain drugs that are legal in Europe but not in the US. On the way home in an airport bathroom in the
States, he suffers a heart attack brought on by a self-administered injection
of a drug and ends up in the hospital- again.
Woodruff continues to consult with Dr. Vass
who experiments with natural alternatives to AZT and gives him a supply of
protein based capsules considered outside of FDA jurisdiction. In his research he discovers an article in
the British journal Lancet about the deadly side effects of AZT, makes copies
of it, gives some to Saks, who leaves copies where patients and hospital staff
can see them, and orders her staff to lower the AZT doses on all her patients,
which almost costs her her job.
Still, Woodroof’s
condition worsens- his hair thins, his skin turns flakey, sunken eyes and
cheeks- as he continues to be harassed by FDA officials and the hospital
staff. His supply of the protein
capsules is confiscated. In one
heartbreaking scene, we witness him driving to Mexico where he experiences the
onset of dementia, a condition suffered by a majority of AIDS sufferers. His disoriented, confused actions alert the
border patrol. Tucker comes for him and
takes him to the hospital. Later, Woodroof
and Wayne sue the FDA. The case
eventually makes it to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco. Back in Texas, he finds he
has won and can legally take the protein supplement.
Ron Woodroof died of
AIDS in 1992, seven years after his diagnosis.
Matthew
McConaughey is Ron Woodroof in this film.
He made a brave choice in accepting this role, making you feel for Ron
every moment. There are a lot of films
and actors up for Academy Awards; McConaughey deserves one for Best Actor.
HIV/AIDS
is a global pandemic. As of 2012,
approximately 35.3 million people have HIV worldwide, with the number of new
infections that year being about 2.3 million. This is down from 3.1 million new
infections in 2001.
