Dallas Buyer’s Club (2013): Fabulous Acting, Fascinating True(ish) Story

Dallas Buyers’ Club is one of the best motion pictures of the year.  Based on the true story of Ron  Woodroof, an unlikely hero in the early days of the AIDS-HIV epidemic, the movie gathers strength as it moves along, fueled by towering performances by it’s star, Matthew McGonnaughey, as Woodroof; and his supporting partner, Jared Leto, as Rayon, Woodruff’s polar opposite, and eventually his best friend.

Woodroof  is not a particularly likeable character when we first meet him.  He is a coarse and profane loner, a hard drinking, hard partying, rodeo hustler – self-absorbed and more-or-less self-sufficient.  He is also gaunt, and almost emaciated in appearance, and, notwithstanding mercurial moments of incredible energy and focus, he increasingly experiences uncharacteristic lassitude, fatigue, and even blackouts.  Hospitalized after one such episode, Woodroof is told that he is indeed very sick – he has AIDS, and has maybe one month to live.  This is 1985, in Texas, and Woodroof takes this as an accusation that he’s a goddamned faggot, which, in his universe, is pretty much the most cutting insult there is.  He angrily storms out of the clinic.

In 1985, the AIDS epidemic, barely three years old, was not well understood. Thousands were dying, the gay community was being decimated, and there was widespread fear that even casual contact with AIDS victims (as they were called) could lead to infection. Clinical trials were under way on a new drug that could slow the virus, but AZT would not gain FDA approval until the following year, and even then, was extraordinarily expensive. Elsewhere in the world, various remedies were being touted, ranging from vitamin therapy to interferon and experimental medicines, but none of these were approved and most were unavailable in the US.

Soon after receiving his diagnosis, Woodroof begins to come to grips with the truth.  Suddenly facing imminent mortality, he just wants to live.  He’s willing to do whatever it takes. And so, we watch a remarkable transformation. No longer the dissolute carouser, Woodroof spends countless hours in the library, pouring over microfiche articles, becoming an expert on the most current AIDS research and potential remedies. Denied meaningful help from the medical establishment, he is undaunted and, consistent with his outlaw spirit, he turns to smuggling in order to get the treatments he believes will help him survive.

In so doing, he also recognizes a business opportunity - for he is but one of thousands of desperate people seeking, if not a cure, at least a respite, from AIDS symptoms. There’s a big market out there.

Up until now Woodroof has had only disdain for gay people. But, as luck would have it (at least in the movie version), he meets Rayon, a transsexual who also has AIDS, along with personality, charm and the requisite connections to the gay community. A partnership of sorts is established, and the Dallas Buyers Club is soon born.

What we have here is the story of a time, a place, and a terrible catastrophe as experienced by an unlikely hero. It’s a bit like Schindler’s List, (1993), in a way. A man, initially motivated by self-interest and greed, sees opportunity arising out of horrific events, and grasps at it; then, through association with and exposure to the suffering of his fellow creatures, discovers their humanity and is forced to confront and assert his own, becoming a mensch in the process.  There are differences, of course: Schindler wasn’t Jewish, but Woodroof had AIDS himself; the Nazis were practicing genocide, while the villains of DBC, the medical establishment and FDA, were merely insensitive and unduly deliberate; Spielberg’s approach to Schindler and the holocaust story was to mawkishly emphasize its Importance, while director Jean-Marc Vallée (The Young Victoria [2009], Café de Flore [2011]) is more observational, letting the story speak for itself. But still… .

Woodroof’’s transformation from an asshole to a hero is remarkable and yet subtle. He does not become a touchy-feely humanist, nor a crusader for gay rights. He remains an obdurate and vulgar iconoclast. But by the end, we see and feel real compassion and understanding in him, and a steely sense of purpose.  Most of the credit must go to Matthew McConaughey (Mud [2012], The Lincoln Lawyer and Bernie [2011]), whose performance is simply brilliant. He inhabits the character of this guy, like he was born to play him. We forget we are watching an actor, a movie star, but rather, are caught up with Woodroof’s journey. Much has been made of the fact that McCanaughey lost a lot of weight for this role, and he does look dangerously and realistically emaciated, but that verisimilitude would count for little, if his performance was flat or unbelievable. Instead, it’s razor-sharp, explosive, and riveting. Forget the story – see Dallas Buyer’s Club for this Oscar-worthy performance.

… and for the performance of his supporting cast-member, Jared Leto (Requiem For A Dream [2000]).  Returning to the Schindler analogy, Leto, as Rayon, is Woodroof’s Ben Kingsley - if you can imagine Kingsley as a flamboyant transgender person.  Rayon is one of the great movie characters of the year, or any year. She is funny, ironic, sassy, vulnerable, alternately wise and screwed-up, and for mid-eighties Dallas, positively outré. She becomes Woodroof’s partner in the DBC, because of her credibility in the gay AIDS community, and her suavity (as contrasted with Woodruff’s unmannerly demeanor); but over time, she also becomes, in an oddly touching and non-romantic way, his partner and best friend in life.  Leto is so convincing as Rayon, it’s hard to realize that he is not a transgender person or cross-dresser in real life.  (He is, in fact, the leader of the prog-rock band, Thirty Seconds To Mars).  Expect an Oscar nomination in the supporting actor category for Leto.

I should mention that Jennifer Garner is also featured in a supporting role in DBC, as a sympathetic physician. She is very empathetic, but her little subplot is an innocuous but totally inessential and meaningless digression. I think she’s supposed to show that all medicos were not evil, uncaring jerks – as the rest of the medical establishment, personified by Denis O’hare as Dr. Sevard, is (unnecessarily) portrayed to be.

I really loved Dallas Buyer’s Club, as did everyone I know that’s seen it. I suspect you will, too.

In wide release.