This is the story of a lawyer at a prestigious law firm in Philadelphia. He has worked for the firm for many years when he is promoted to a big case and is on his way to making partner. When being congratulated some of the partners sees some lesions on his face. Not long after the case file that he was working on mysteriously disappears. After finding the file at the last minute he is fired. After thinking about why he would be fired for the only mistake he has ever made for the firm he realizes that they must have found out that he has been diagnosed the HIV. After going to 9 lawyers to take his case, and everyone turning him down, he comes to his old rival for help.
Philadelphia is one of those movies that I have never really heard about. I can't believe that it's not talked about more because the cast alone. How many times are you going to get Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington in a movie together? However, I am more shocked at the fact that Tom Hanks have been nominated for Best Actor five times in his career, he has one twice and this role was his first win.
I will say that this movie makes you think about HIV in a different way. When we are taught about it in school it's this super scary disease that anyone can contracts and die in what feels like a matter of days. Don't get me wrong it's a super scary disease but it's not like you can catch it like the flu. However, what we are taught in school is that the disease is mainly contracted by African-American males. Now, it's been a number of years since I took a health education class in his school so I am sure that is not the "normal" statistic anymore but that is what I remember.
So, under the influence of that learned fact from high school I was under the impression that Denzel Washington who would be portraying the man who has HIV. I was shocked to learn that it was Mr. Hanks that would be playing the man who had HIV.
I am so glad that is how the writers, directors, or whoever decides how to work the cast decided to do that. The whole movie is not about the trial but rather the stigma of anyone who has HIV. That they are somehow dirty or unworthy of being human.
Denzel's character, a black male who has people being prejudice against him some in the film, can't even look past the fact that his man has a "disgusting disease" or the fact that he is gay. It really showed how bad the stigma of HIV is. That people who are unfairly judged on a daily basis because of the color of their skin also judge unfairly those who have a disease that they don't want and their sexual orientation.
This movie doesn't give you a lot in the education of HIV, like how is works in your body or scientific terms. What this movie does is so much more important than that. This movie humanizes this disease. It shows that someone who has HIV can still be hugged, and treated the same. That they are not dirty or unfit for the public. That these people suffering from this disease can still be loved. Just like everyone else they can still be loved. This movie shows you that while there is a "main demographic" of people that this disease is involved with that doesn't mean that those people who fall under the "main demographic" are guilty of something. That they did something wrong. It's not like they sought out to get this disease, no one seeks out to get any disease. They don't want HIV anymore than you or I want it. They just want to live their life just like we want to.
This movie really shows that we as a society need to be better educated about HIV and many other diseases. We should no be oppressing anyone because of a health concern many people aren't really told about. This movie should be seen by every person it can reach. It needs to be because if we can show everyone that there are people behind the disease they are diagnosed with I think this world could be better for it.
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