Based on a true story Dallas Buyers Club follows the later life of Ron Woodroof ( a very wasted looking Matthew McConaghey) – a not altogether sympathetic character who we meet first as a rodeo rider in the 1980s. He finds that he’s been infected with HIV at the height of the AIDS crisis, and is pretty much convinced of this as a death sentence, but instead of lying down and giving up, Ron, no stranger to some chemical experimentation decides to track down and try any potential cures available. During the process this “red-blooded”, redneck cowboy finds himself sharing space, in various ways, with those who would have been keen to sideline and disparage. So while he fights for his constitutional rights to medically experiment on himself as he sees fit, battling various strands of officialdom, he also finds himself, by necessity, defending and protecting the rights of those he’d have seen as undesirable, indecent and probably un-American. It’s a story of his growth as a person, his development of understanding of himself and others, and a dependence on the old stubbornness that would make a person get right back on a horse that has just thrown them off, again and again.
Due to his determination Ron managed to keep himself alive for far longer than expected and in that time gradually befriended Rayon, a transexual who he first met while seeking treatment, and many others like him. It’s never a sentimental story, and absolutely the opposite of cloying in it’s approach – it feels angry, raw and real, and yet at times moving and sympathetic. It’s not an easy Saturday evening, fun-for-all movie, but you definitely won’t regret the time taken to watch it.
Netflix / Prime / YouTube
