MYST Post #4 Quarter 2

The movie I chose to write this post on is Philadelphia (1993). I would give this movie 5 out of 5 stars. It is about a homosexual man (Tom Hanks) who is fired from his job as a lawyer shortly after he is diagnosed with AIDS.  Tom Hanks then sues his bosses because he feels he was fired because he has AIDS and Denzel Washington is his attorney.  Washington's character is reluctant at first due to the heat he will likely take for representing a homosexual. So the main story follows this very controversial trial between a bunch of very powerful lawyers and a homosexual man who feels he has been wronged.  But also Denzel's change of attitude toward homosexuals during the progression of the trial.  I recently watched this movie and it made me question my status of a self proclaimed movie-buff because I am just now seeing it.  This is one of the best movies I have ever seen and I would give most of the credit to Denzel Washington.  His role is one of those roles where it seems like he isn't acting; it seems like he is actually in the situation.  The court rooms scenes are some of the most powerful scenes I have ever witnessed.  Considering that the movie came out during the AIDS scare, it was definitely raised some eye brows.  I imagine there was still a pretty negative connotation surrounding homosexuality when this movie came out and the director was probably taking some risks when writing this movie.  That being said, director Jonathan Demme does a good job of representing the hostility toward homosexuals during this time period throughout the film.

There is a specific camera technique that is used through out this movie that has an outstanding effect on the scene.  It is used in most of the court room scenes and it starts from very far away, then slowly moves closer and closer and eventually ends up zoomed in on the speaker's face.  The zoom always seems to be in perfect synchronization with when the speaker is really getting to the main point of their argument.  The director also chose to use a lot of different lighting in the court room scenes.  For example, there was always a lot of light on Tom Hanks' forehead, but a lack of light on the lower half of his face to make him appear more sickly and frail.  Even though it is just an effect, the make up people did a great job with making Tom Hanks look as though he is very ill.

This movie is extremely emotional and some may even call it a tear-jerker, but I think the main thing that added to the emotion of the story is that the character in the movie were crying a lot.  Usually I don't like movies where the character are crying all the time because personally, it makes me a little uncomfortable.  However, the times when character are crying in this movie seem like times when people really should be crying and the emotion doesn't seemed forced at all.  Great acting performances by both Hanks and Washington.  I the most powerful/emotional scene is when Denzel and Hanks are preparing for the trial after a late night party and Hanks insists on listening to one of his famous Opera selections.  Hanks is describing what the women is singing about and the story is eerily relatable to his current situation.  After, the director does a good job of illustrating the fact the Denzel was very moved and maybe even changed a little by the whole situation.  The director makes a point of letting the audience know what the characters are thinking at all times and this helps to recognize their development through out the film.