Jean-Marc Vallée directs the true story of the Texan cowboy who takes on the pharmaceutical companies during the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.
Showing the life of Ron Woodroof, from being given 30 days to live after contracting HIV, smuggling medicine from Mexico, to setting up his own treatment centre and taking on the authorities. Dallas Buyers Club tackles the most sensitive of issues with a thoughtfulness and sensitivity that is rarely found in mainstream cinema.
At the centre of the film is Matthew McConaughey as the real life Ron Woodroof. The initial shock of seeing McConaughey as the emaciated, at death’s door Woodroof soon dissipates as it is soon apparent McConaughey’s off screen commitment to the role is matched by his on screen performance. This is one of most powerful performances of McConaughey’s career, portraying a man who starts off as a homophobic, drug taking womanizer who becomes a tolerant, entrepreneur helping the very people who initially disgusted him. This is no mean feat and McConaughey portrays Woodroof wonderfully, showing the man’s complexities with a multifaceted performance that is both intelligent and moving.
Jared Leto is equally captivating as Rayon, a transgender man suffering from AIDS. What could easily have slipped into being a clichéd characterture in Leto’s hand is both a humorous and heartbreaking performance that gets to core of the complex emotions of someone facing their own mortality, whilst having to face the ignorance of the times.
Anchoring the whole thing down is Jennifer Garner as Dr. Eve Saks. While not delivering a performance as showy as McConaughey’s and Leto, Garner does bring grounding to the story which the film certainly needs.
Starting out as tale of self preservation and making money turns into a story that is much more meaningful. With Woodrow being on the receiving end of his own prejudices he goes about circumventing US drug regulations buy setting up his own buyers club where patients pay a membership to receive treatment rather than paying directly for the medication. With Woodrow facing his own mortality the whole venture turns into something much more humanitarian as Woodrow later says ‘I’m fighting for a life, I ain’t got time to live and I want it to mean something’.
The film tackles a number of subjects, Woodrow, homophobia and corporate collusion to name a few, but it never loses sight of the main character and main story. Vallée manages to tell both the personal story of Woodroof and the wider story of AIDS treatment at that time with equal care and attention, thus giving the audience a personal insight into a tragedy that devastated so many lives.
Like with all true stories made into film, there are some elements that deviate from what actually happened. Leto’s character Rayon and Garner’s Dr. Eve Saks are both fictional, with Rayon being a composite of transgender AIDS patients. It is a plot device, but a well intentioned, well handled and amazingly performed one, which is justified in this film. Likewise Dr. Eve Saks character is there to show the human face of a medical establishment, which is otherwise shown to be cold and more interested in taking care of their corporate companies than they are of their own patients.
A true story with some truly amazing performances, Vallée steers clear of being saccharin and manipulative, instead treating this subject with the intelligence and sensitivity it deserves.
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