Dallas Buyers Club is a drama directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, starring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. Jean-Marc Vallée is a Canadian filmmaker who also directed Wild featuring Reese Witherspoon and popular TV series Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects. The movie was released in 2013 and received numerous awards, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 86th Academy Awards (“Dallas Buyers Club Awards”). It is inspired by the real story of Ron Woodroof, who researched and experimented with different drugs to cure AIDS (“Ron Woodroof Biography”). Matthew McConaughey gets into the character of Ron to recreate his life as a founder of the Dallas Buyers Club. Ron attempts to go against the federal system – the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – and distributes medication for those in need. The film depicts how certain groups of society are discriminated on the basis of gender and sexual orientation. Discrimination forces individuals to hide their health issues, which hinders progress in finding HIV and AIDS treatment. It is a story of hope, inner power, and desire to oppose the system to help others.
Dallas Buyers Club reveals the author’s core goal of demonstrating the change of Ron’s attitudes toward homosexuality and transgender people. Vallée lets McConaughey improvise to create a more realistic picture of every-day life. The evolution of McConaughey’s character is a leitmotif of the whole story that helps the director to reach his goal. His life comprises of rodeo performances, drinking parties and careless sexual relationships. He denies the diagnosis by referring to a well-established stereotype that only gay people can have HIV. Even though Ron is not driven by compassion or virtue, he eventually reconsiders some of his opinions. At the same time, Vallée balances the genuine emotions of the protagonist and black humor to avoid creating a cartoon drama (Robinson). The director of the movie introduces an extraordinarily different and outstanding figure of Rayon, played by Jared Leto. Ron is driven by financial gains and sees cooperation with Rayon necessary. Despite crucial differences, Rayon and Ron become partners and slowly learn to understand each other. The tone and organization of the story are free from sentimental claims about Ron’s journey, which strengthens its dramatic nature.
The director manages to achieve his goal by intertwining Ron’s struggle and a contribution to a vital social mission. The movie is convincing because it demonstrates problems of a vast medical industry through the prism of Ron’s story. In a way, it is possible to identify a sacrifice the protagonist makes while having no prior intent. A variety of details employed by the director, like Ron’s love of colors, builds up a compelling bond between actors and viewers. The use of evidence is appropriate, especially the physical appearance of McConaughey and Leto, who had to lose weight. This remarkable transformation is a tool for conveying the message to the public. This movie is an unforgettable performance where people from underprivileged or queer groups are given the voice. However, it slightly exaggerates the evil of the pharmaceutical companies and doctors that are not able to provide sufficient medical protocols. Nevertheless, it seems logical to exaggerate in order to break the stigma around those who contract HIV or AIDS. As a result, the film educates on the sensitive issue of accepting diverse styles of life.
Works Cited
- “Dallas Buyers Club Awards.” IMDb. Web.
- Robinson, Tasha. “Dallas Buyers Club.” Dissolve, 2013. Web.
- “Ron Woodroof Biography.” Biography, 2019. Web.