Dallas Buyers Club review

Number 312 on the top 1000 films of all time is Jean-Marc Valle's biopic drama Dallas Buyers Club.

Based on the true story, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) is a Texan electrician who is diagnosed with AIDS in 1980's America when AIDS was poorly understood. He initially takes the standard treatment of AZT but after this makes him worse, he begins smuggling in alternative treatments and selling them to other aids sufferers under the guise of the Dallas Buyers Club with the help of transgender prostitute Rayon (Jared Leto.)

After the last two years of Covid and lockdown, it's weird to think of AIDS as a pandemic but it was and very much still is. As of 2020, over 36 million people have died, marking it the 4th worst pandemic in history. This pandemic began in the 80s when the disease was stigmatised and under-researched - due to the homophobic attitudes of the time, not to mention, the bureaucratic red tape surrounding the development of new treatments. Woodroof quickly loses his friends who suspect that he is secretly gay. I often wondered whether he was a closeted homosexual and his own self-loathing is the reason for his own intense homophobia.

AZT - the only viable treatment for AIDs is highly experimental and hasn't been approved by the FDA yet. Woodroof bribes a hospital worker for the treatment, but after it makes him worse, he goes to Mexico where a doctor prescribes him with a cocktail of Ddc and peptide T. Knowing there are others suffering, Woodroof exploits this new miracle cure by setting up a club where members can get free medication. However, they have to pay membership fees at a monthly rate of $400. 

To be honest, this is the perfect microcosm of the American healthcare system. You're dying from a lethal disease? You can't afford to pay for your treatment? Guess you better start making funeral plans. It also showcases Woodroof as being less than a great man - exploiting dying people for the last of their money. He isn't the nicest of men to begin with - a homophobic, loudmouthed drunk, but that's what makes his character arc so interesting to watch. He goes from calling Rayon homophobic slurs to defending her against his homophobic friends who don't want to shake her hand to even hugging her when she sells her life insurance policy to keep the club going. When Rayon is taken to hospital and dies after being given AZT, Woodroof is furious. 

And while he begins the club for solely exploitative reasons, he truly begins to care about the people he is helping. The FDA threatens to arrest Woodroof and makes his imported drugs illegal. He promises to fight this, not because he cares about the money, but because he wants to genuinely keep helping people. Matthew McConaughey won the Best Acting Oscar for his role as Woodroof and it was well deserved. He took an unlikable, annoying jackass and turned him into a sympathetic, interesting hero. McConaughey reportedly lost 22 kilos to play the role and this dedication to the role showed through.

But McConaughey cannot take all the credit. Some of that has to be reserved for Jared Leto's standout performance as Rayon. Leto won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this role and it was clear why. He utterly disappeared into the role of the transgender prostitute. It would have been so easy to turn Rayon into nothing more than a hurtful stereotype/caricature but she was so sympathetic. Leto played her as an inspiring, but tragic character. Despite how much shit she must have taken throughout her life, she doesn't devolve into pity and self-loathing like Woodroof does, but always keeps her spirits high. One of the film's most heart-breaking scenes is when Rayon confronts her abusive, transphobic father. Her dad says "God, help me," Rayon replies, "he is helping you; I have aids." Similarly, to McConaughey, Leto also dedicated himself to the role, shaving his eyebrows, waxing his whole body and losing 13kg. Reportedly, he refused to break character and went to the supermarket dressed as Rayon, earning him many stares.

Granted, Jean-Marc Vallee reportedly played a little fast and loose with history. In real life, Woodroof was bisexual and wasn't anywhere near as homophobic as he was portrayed here. The negative effects of AZT were largely overstated as were Woodroof's alternative treatments. But that doesn't change the fact that Vallee still produced a great film with a great performance from McConaughey but an even greater performance from Jared Leto.