Dallas Buyers Club Movie Review
Tolerance of ‘different’ people is something that some people may not have regardless of how much they think that they do. Jean-Marc Valeé’s Dallas Buyers Club is a movie filled with gambling, bull riding, people struggling with HIV/AIDS and an overall message about acceptance and tolerance of different people. The movie almost specifically focuses rhetorically on tolerance of homosexual and transgender people and is rated R.
Ron Woodroof (Matthew MacConaughey) is a cheap, boozing, gambling bull rider in Dallas, Texas, who is obsessed with having sex with random women who he meets and eventually finds out that he has HIV/AIDS; however, he is not one to believe it. “Nothing out there can kill Ron Woodroof in 30 days,” Ron says indignantly. When Ron gets into an accident that proves nearly fatal due to his immune deficiency, he is informed for the first time that he has HIV/AIDS. He is brutally insulted and reacts rudely to the doctors, swearing at and threatening them. In this scene, Ron shows his intolerance towards gay people; he refers to them using homophobic slurs and other profanities.
Though Ron starts out with crippling homophobia, he eventually comes to terms with the idea of homosexuality and befriends a gay man whom he meets in the hospital named Rayon. At first, Ron is very insensitive towards Rayon because of his sexuality. He eventually realizes, however, that both of them have the HIV virus and that neither of them is able to get the medicine required to keep them alive. Not only does the movie show Ron’s progressive acceptance of gay people, it actually shows a message of teamwork because both Ron and Rayon are working together to make the money necessary to stay alive. Overall, Dallas Buyers Club is a movie that may not be for everyone, but can be an interesting flick for many types of introspective people.