Philadelphia is a film that has a point to make and certainly isn't shy in tugging on the heart strings in making it. Tackling the issues of AIDS at a time when Hollywood shied away from the subject has earned it a place in film history and thankfully it is a worthy entry on its own terms as a film.
Led by an Oscar winning performance by Tom Hanks, Philadelphia's strengths as a story are played to perfection by its cast. Hanks deservedly got his first Oscar for the role of Andrew Beckett, playing a man who is slowly dying yet fighting for what he believed was a wrongful termination from his law firm due to his illness. Heartfelt and genuine, Hanks makes Beckett's descent towards an undeniable death tragic, graceful and emotional. Never overplaying the normalcy of the man Beckett is regardless of how people view his sexuality, illness or social position Hanks has made a character for the ages. He's just a man who wants to live, and live a normal life regardless of who he is behind his front door.
Backed up by Denzel Washington's lawyer, a homophobe who takes Beckett's case regardless of his personal feelings towards his client, Philadelphia has a leading duo that make a strong, iconic and important pair. Washington's Joe Miller may have views that the film is trying to show is wrong, but they also highlight how he fights for what is right, and how he learns to accept the man Beckett is. It's almost a middle ground which highlights to the viewer everything that is wrong with Beckett's old work colleagues. Those people are ignorant, you are truly meant to believe that they convinced themselves they hadn't fired Beckett because he had AIDS.
Whilst the courtroom scenes are at times a little too preachy and blunt with the messages the script is making, the other scenes of Beckett and Miller's lives are played so elegantly and emotionally that you can't help but be totally captivated. The real emotion comes from the ordinary, real-life scenes and characters it portrays, and you can feel a connection to every one of them on some level.
It also struggles to really get under the skin of the other side of the story. We learn everything from Beckett and Miller's point of view, yet the script skips over the events as seen from the law firm and its board of members. It's something that a lesser film shouldn't worry about, but seeing as Philadelphia has a serious message it wants to tell it's almost a little disrespectful to disregard the other side to such a degree.
Whilst it may be true that the subject matter still has an even greater film within it, for the time it was ground breaking. It's handling of that subject matter is undeniably impressive as a result. Philadelphia is not just something that true fans of the film medium should see. It's a film that everyone should see, and then appreciate what it was trying to say at a time when it was taboo to say it.
8/10
Adam
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