For Monday is predicted the beginning of a few days of thawing weather. Yet, here we are on Valentine's Day with a whopping 12 to 18 inches of accumulated snow on the ground in this area. So it’s a pretty, white Valentine's Day (Dr. Zhavago?) with snow-drifted spaces and shiny clear icicles hanging down.
This is a good time, mid-February, to catch up on movies nominated for the Academy Awards. One of the great films of 2013 is the Dallas Buyers Club. This filmed was directed by Jean-Marc Vallee from a screenplay written by Craig Borten and Melissa Wallack. It's set in Texas in 1985, and is based on the story of Ron Woodroof, a working man who is discovered to be HIV-positive. It's a smart movie, covers a lot of current and important themes, and also "feels good" - there's the idea that somehow the human spirit can triumph in even very adverse circumstances.
If that wasn't enough, the movie is electrified with performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. The film has already won awards at the 2014 Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Leto is amazing as Rayon, a transgender person in the film. The actor lost 30 pounds for the role and looked convincingly female: beautiful costumes, hair and makeup, is topped off with inspired acting.
McConaughey became a shell of his previous self in his preparation for this role as an electrician rodeo cowboy who somehow contracted HIV. Whether it was through sex with a prostitute IV drug user, his own drug use or possibly in some other way - that remains unclear.
Once diagnosed, the former macho man experiences discrimination, homophobia, shunning, and feels forced to go to drastic measures to try and save his life. This movie draws you in to begin to understand the complexities of the the drug trials and drug cocktail experiments that have finally allowed AIDS and HIV+ patients to live (or live longer) with their afflictions.
Lead character Ron bribed a hospital worker to provide him with the AIDS drug AZT because he was only eligible for a trial of the drug, which gave him a 50/50 chance of getting a useless placebo. But on AZT he only became more ill, his condition under the powerful drug worsened and exacerbated by alcoholism and cocaine abuse. Then after being unable to get AZT, Ron visits an ex-patriate American doctor in Mexico who is running an unusual medical clinic. Ron learns about unconventional and alternative medication regimens and strategies that also rebuild his immune system. Among other medicines he takes vitamins and peptide T, a protein not approved by the US FDA.
After some time in Mexico on this new drug and vitamin regimen, Ron returned to the USA smuggling the unapproved drugs and eventually established the Dallas Buyers Club to help other HIV+ people obtain these miracle drugs. All the while he was having to fight convention, challenge the FDA and also buck the medical establishment.
This story also does something else - it portrays the change of heart of a homophobic person. Gradually, little by little, empathy arises, fear subsides, humanity rules out. Whether the real Ron was homophobic or just more defensive, you see Karma come back around in this movie. As Ron learns to master his universe, if only for a time, it makes those of us watching feel that we can do anything too.
Love, be it collegial or romantic, straight or gay, familial or brotherly - love conquers all. So Happy Valentine's Day to you.
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