Dallas Buyers Club: What Would You Do If You Were Told You Only Had 30 Days Left?

The 80’s.  I have a special place in my heart for this decade as I was born in 1985.  This was a time of rock and roll, big hair, and basically believing you were a rock star.  The whole “safe sex” movement didn't exist yet and unfortunately had many living ignorantly as if they were invisible.  Then it was finally discovered that you cannot simply snort cocaine, have unprotected sex with multiple partners, and not suffer the consequences.  The one consequence more severe than any would be HIV and eventually AIDS. 

Ron was a rodeo man living the dream.  He bet on life constantly.  In rodeos he did pretty well, depending on the bet.  In life, however, he lost.  After going to the hospital with a cough, he leaves with new information of having HIV.  His reaction to this?  “Are you saying I’m a queer?”  Which just shows the blatant ignorance during this time, especially in a predominantly white town in Texas (no offense Texas, but it was the 80’s and you know the south hasn't always been the most progressive).  I digress.  So after being told he had 30 days left, he did what I am sure most would given the scenario, he denied it. 

After feeling his body grow weaker and doing research.  He finally saw that it wasn't a disease for the African American, it wasn't a disease for homosexuals.  It was a disease anyone could get. His sexual encounters and drug habits had finally caught up with him.   Then a she came to terms with this and sought out help from doctors for medicine to help him cure it, he realized there was a problem.  There was no cure for HIV. 

Life seemed to get worse for Ron as his “friends” wanted nothing to do with him, he was kicked out of his home, and was no longer allowed to work as an electrician.  His life was falling apart at the seams and Ron was getting desperate.

After researching, making new friends, and finding a doctor willing to help him, he was able to fight the system that was not serving him or his fellow HIV sufferers well.  Through use of natural medicine, Ron and his team began the Dallas Buyers Club which offered as many drugs to help the symptoms of HIV and AIDS each month to any patient as long as they paid their dues of 400 dollars a month.  This may sound like another scam and way for Ron to make a profit, but you saw him transform into this person who genuinely cared for others and wanted to do right by others as well as himself.

You truly root for Ron as he fights the corrupt members of the FDA and doctors influenced by money.  What is more astonishing is witnessing just how many days he did have after his 30 day sentence and the amount of change he was able to make during that duration.  Ron was a survivor.

I have to end this by saying that the performance by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto (who played Ron’s close accomplice and cross dresser who looked amazing in a skirt I must add) was nothing short of beautiful.  You catch each character in some intense moments of self-actualization that leave you feeling what they feel as they get closer to death.