It’s very easy to idly assume that any film that features
the men who took the ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’ awards
respectively at the Oscars must be a good film. Thankfully though, Dallas
proves this mantra correct once more, as the performances of Mathew McConaughey
and Jared Leto prove to be funny, deeply moving and perfectly acted, which in
turn makes this film a triumph.
To set the scene, McConaughey plays Ron Woodroof; a drug
injecting, money squandering, lothario of a Cowboy in Texas. Ron’s a typical
man from a conservative state that happily still abhors gays and disregards the
growing storm of HIV-AIDS that rocked the world in the 1980s. But when Ron is
found to be HIV positive and told he has only days to live, the protagonist gallantly
decides that there “ain’t nothing that can kill Ron Woodroof in 30 days” and
delves into the shady world of untested drug treatments in order to survive. He
flies all over the world to do so as well as becoming a de facto dealer for
fellow AIDS sufferers, including Leto’s transvestite character Rayon. Thus, the
Dallas Buyers Club is born. The main plot strand of the film is Ron’s fight against
not just the illness but also his fight against the doctors and corporations
that were giving the drug AZT to existing patients. As a result, it casts light
on the callous nature of the big bad corporations who seemed to only want money
from their part in fighting the epidemic – with the patients becoming
collateral damage. All of this makes you appreciate the film on a grander
scale, as you can see that it isn’t just the story of one man’s fight.
However let’s start with the two leading men. Both underwent
huge physical changes to make the parts look authentic, with Leto donning some
garish woman’s clothing and McConaughey losing sufficient weight to look gaunt
and frankly ill. However, more than the aesthetics, the two actors cover the
whole emotional spectrum with their parts. Woodroof is a man whose bigoted
views are turned on their head as he becomes ostracised by his friends yet he
still has that casual cockiness that we see at the onset. Then there’s Leto;
for all of Rayon’s (real name Raymond) outlandish bravado there are some gut-wrenching
scenes that capture the deep despair that the illness must have brought to
hundreds of thousands of people. The chemistry between the two creates both
humour and a sense of camaraderie in the face of long odds.
Beat for beat the film never gets bogged down in detail
which is, in the main, a good thing. It fleets from day to day, sometimes with
whole months left out, but all of this makes the film flow. There’s a beautiful
irony in the fact that the film never wastes time nor takes it for granted, as
this is exactly how Ron himself acts. He’s a man who lives in the present, as
the future bears no security for him. But that’s not to say that there isn’t
humour present. Dressing up as a priest in order to smuggle drugs across the border
may not be moral, but it’s certainly entertaining. The only problem is that
besides these two, and the amicable doctor Eve, there’s not a lot of meaty
support cast to carry the plot onwards or give it another angle. Moreover,
there are times when you almost need a little more explanation and depth to the
story, as otherwise you have to join up the dots and come to the one sided
conclusion that all doctors and pharmaceutical agencies must be horrible bastards.
That being said, there is so much to admire here. Ranging
from the brilliant acting to the stylistic way in which the film is put
together. It’s the crowning glory of the ‘McConaissance’ and is yet another
brave piece of film making. When you look at three of last year’s most successful
films – This, 12 Years a Slave and The Wolf of Wall Street – the common denominator
is that they’re tackling voodoo subjects that have previously been swept under
the rug. That alone deserves credit, yet they would mean nothing if they weren’t
excellently put together. This is a film bristling with hope, despair, comedy
and drama and is certainly worth a watch if your revision schedule allows.
90/100
