Streets of Philadelphia.

Good evening here at the Philippines and good morning/afternoon everywhere around the world! :)

I'm going to post my review now on the movie, Philadelphia. To give you a brief history on how I stumbled upon this movie, is technically I was just curious on how Mr. Hanks career boomed and started to be recognized by people on his roles.

I've been searching on other people's comments/suggestions/opinion on his films, and yes I was intrigued on why many people gave this particular one a big, round of applause. Not to mention Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and Antonio Banderas was in it.

It was released on the year 1993 wherein I was just only 2 years old. After 19 years, I finally get to get Mr. Hanks movies and experience all the emotions that he showed to others.

I had no idea what the film was all about except it talks about homosexuality and AIDS that days and there was a lot of discrimination. There was no one to come up with the courage to talk about that area, until, Ron Nyswaner made a script about this and was directed by Jonathan Demme.

From Wikipedia:

Tom Hanks won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the film, while the song "Streets of Philadelphia" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Ron Nyswaner was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, but lost to Jane Campion for The Piano.

Hanks takes on the role of Andrew Beckett, is a senior associate at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia. He got promoted on a higher position and was given one of the most important client of the company.

But what the associates doesn't know about Beckett, he was hiding the fact that he was a homosexual ( he was afraid to tell because of some jokes when they were hanging out in the sauna ) and has AIDS. It was first noticed when one of them saw a bruise/lesion on Beckett's forehead, in which the latter said that it was just hit by some racquetball.

Beckett stays home from work for several days to try to find a way to hide his lesions. While at home, he finishes the complaint for the case he has been assigned and then brings it to his office, leaving instructions for his assistants to file the complaint in court on the following day. Beckett suffers from bowel spasms at home and is rushed to the hospital.

Then comes Miguel Álvarez (played by Antonio Banderas) hurrying to the hospital and worrying on Beckett's health. Frankly, I was shocked to see Banderas taking on the role as the boyfriend of Tom Hanks here. I mean, he's Zorro, and this is new for me. I really admire him now more because on his performance here. Really great support.

Next come is Joe Miller (played by Denzel Washington) who at first initially declines to be the lawyer of Beckett but when he saw how other people discriminated Beckett on the library, he eventually agrees to be his representative. Now this is the second shock of the movie for me, well, after all, I really love him doing the role on Book of Eli, which is action and fast-paced.

It's new for me to see him being an attorney and stuff here. But he was really intelligent and was awesome in every way. Ten thumbs up for him!

As the movie goes on, the court battle between Beckett and the company, it was intense and was believable. I was happy that Beckett's family was full support on him on the case. Fight for his rights they said.

But as this movie concludes at the end, Beckett won the case victoriously thanks to the help of Miller.

But also, it deteriorated Beckett's health and can't go any further. He just waited for the verdict. If it will give justice or not. It did matter a lot for everyone who was involved in his life.

Now my tears are welling up again, trying to hold back... I've been moved again by Tom Hanks role on this side. I didn't want him to die, for I see more life into his life. He could help others on fighting against discrimination on AIDS or homosexuality. But as a saying goes, all good things comes to an end. But for me, ending is just only the beginning of something new.

Goodbye Andrew/Andy Beckett. Your memory remains with us forever. And let your story be heard by the next generations.

~Derrick

PS: Whew! That was dramatic huh? To lighten things up, I'm watching the other half of 'Big' later when I go to bed. Never felt happy since all the drama ones I've already watched. Thanks Tom Hanks! :)