Member review

I found Philadelphia quite fascinating as it speaks about the story of the life of a homosexual lawyer who is suffering from AIDS; this role is played by the well-known actor Tom Hanks. The messages that the film presented were highly controversial at the time due to the era of when the film is set; people who had AIDS were treated as outcasts as it seemed to be compared and viewed like the plague. Hence, this has a considerable effect on the life of the main character, Andrew Beckett, a successful gay lawyer who thinks that he has been fired because he suffers from AIDS, which then leads to him accusing his employers of discriminating against him. In my opinion, the film becomes more and more compelling as it progresses. One of the many controversies in “Philadelphia” is when Beckett is having to work from home for a period of time; which is a pivotal moment in the movie as he attempts to hide his lesions as he was aware that they were evident signs of his suffering of AIDS. However, his work that he conducted at home was meant to be filed away safely; Beckett never did this. Therefore, Beckett’s employers use this as a reason for his firing. Towards the latter stages of the movie, the cruel realisation that Beckett was fired due to his illness is clearly exposed to the audience. Overall, I would recommend that one has to watch this film so that they are given an insight as to the problems of what certain members of society had to face whilst attempting to live a normal lifestyle. Furthermore, I believe that Tom Hanks deserves a substantial amount of credit for playing the character of Andrew Beckett as not many actors would have had the courage and heart to play what some would describe as a “challenging” role.