A Reaction Paper on the Movie Philadelphia

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I believe that the people who were surrounding Beckett were good and had kind hearts but sometimes, human as we are, we choose to follow what’s done by the masses that is wrong than march with the few but is right. So instead of helping a person with such an illness, some of his acquaintances and even a few of his friends chose to rub him off and roll a judgmental eye towards him. I think we all have an urge that somehow inclines us to help someone in cases of need and especially in this kind of circumstance where there really is a high necessity for assistance yet they chose to turn a blind eye and see what is acceptable in the eyes of most people rather than look at what is actually moral and ethical. Another issue I’m pointing here is the helplessness of the people around him. Being people with degrees and respectable jobs, they could’ve had extended a hand or spare extra time to know about what it really was for Beckett and help him with what he was facing. The people that were surrounding him were highly educated individuals being in a law firm and all but I guess you can never really teach morality. Seeing as how it went downhill in Beckett’s life, another issue was ignorance and judgment. Everything Beckett was put into was because of the lack of knowledge and ignorance of what he had and even who he was. The people around him didn’t know him in a deep personal level yet had all the nerve to judge him and give him a head-to-toe judgmental stare when he passes by. They were also not educated enough about what Beckett had. All they knew was that it was deadly, associated with homosexuality and had a strong possibility to be passed on. But they chose to stay misinformed about it. No one really dared to venture out and know what this was about but majority went into an extra mile for judging.

All of these issues were shown both artistically and realistically in the film. Artistic in the tweaks and touches of cinematography and realistic in the sense that it got viewers teary-eyed. I admire how it touched important aspects vital to give the story a backbone but didn’t get too dragging and didn’t reach the point of boredom. Interest was felt in every scene. It was amazing how the two main actors draw you to their characters and formulate an actual feeling of sympathy. Both Hanks and Washington did such a great job which was already expected out of them since they both really are great actors and yes, I wasn’t disappointed. The story line was not confusing and the run through of it was understandable-one where you could actually follow the turn of events without leaving blank parts of previous scenes and being unable to connect them at the end of the film. These type of movies aren’t really in my top ten list to watch when I am given some free time but I’m glad to have seen this and given another light of knowledge and additional information about the struggles of the people who have this and see first-hand the types of discrimination they go through. I think the movie hit its goal to give justice to the stories behind the people with this disease and give bits and pieces of information to those who haven’t heard of it as well.

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