Over the last few years, I have been churning my way through the films of Denzel Washington. I love the intensity and passion he brings to his roles, plus the fact that, "Manchurian Candidate" aside, he hasn't really been in any bad films. For whatever reason, I had not yet seen "Philadelphia", which is hailed by film critics and garnered Tom Hanks a Best Actor academy award in 1992. After viewing, I found it to be not as epic as some would have me believe, but still an interesting two hours nonetheless.
The basic plot of the film is the story of two lawyers (Denzel and Hanks). Hanks' character contracts AIDS and enlists the help of "Washington" to help him file a discrimination lawsuit against the company that fired him (supposedly due to the disease). Along the way, the plot actually morphs to become more of a "panel discussion" on the treatment/perception of gay people in the United States.
In dealing with such a sensitive topic, the film is able to lay out its message without sounding too crass or too offensive to either side. Basically, director Jonathan Demme knows that viewers will obviously have pre-determined attitudes about the issue before viewing the film, and thus doesn't try to sway any perceptions. Instead, through the legal, court-room setting, he just invites both sides to think about the issues at hand and consider possible scenarios. I liken it to a more recent Denzel Washington film entitled "The Great Debaters", which discussed the issue of the Jim Crow south through a high school debate team. Some pretty meaty issues were thrown around, but under the guise of "debate" the viewers don't really feel any compulsion to take a side, instead just being privy to the information. A similar factor is what I believe is the true brilliance of Demme's film...he treats the viewers like a jury and allows us to come to our own conclusion about the issues he is discussing.
Thus, unless you have incredibly strong feelings one way or the other about the issue of gay rights (then the film is bound to upset in its generalization of the topic), I would recommend this film to pretty much anyone. While it may not live up to critical hype (likely due to the fact that critics are usually bonkers over artsy or heavy-themed films), it will give you some things to think about.
The basic plot of the film is the story of two lawyers (Denzel and Hanks). Hanks' character contracts AIDS and enlists the help of "Washington" to help him file a discrimination lawsuit against the company that fired him (supposedly due to the disease). Along the way, the plot actually morphs to become more of a "panel discussion" on the treatment/perception of gay people in the United States.
In dealing with such a sensitive topic, the film is able to lay out its message without sounding too crass or too offensive to either side. Basically, director Jonathan Demme knows that viewers will obviously have pre-determined attitudes about the issue before viewing the film, and thus doesn't try to sway any perceptions. Instead, through the legal, court-room setting, he just invites both sides to think about the issues at hand and consider possible scenarios. I liken it to a more recent Denzel Washington film entitled "The Great Debaters", which discussed the issue of the Jim Crow south through a high school debate team. Some pretty meaty issues were thrown around, but under the guise of "debate" the viewers don't really feel any compulsion to take a side, instead just being privy to the information. A similar factor is what I believe is the true brilliance of Demme's film...he treats the viewers like a jury and allows us to come to our own conclusion about the issues he is discussing.
Thus, unless you have incredibly strong feelings one way or the other about the issue of gay rights (then the film is bound to upset in its generalization of the topic), I would recommend this film to pretty much anyone. While it may not live up to critical hype (likely due to the fact that critics are usually bonkers over artsy or heavy-themed films), it will give you some things to think about.