Movie Review- Philadelphia

By Saugat Suri

Saugat is currently pursuing PG Diploma in Media and Entertainment Management from India Today Media Institute. She completed her BA in Philosophy Honours from Gargi College, Delhi University.

A 1993 release, Philadelphia opens with a promising and competent lawyer – Andrew Beckett, Tom Hanks’ character – who was afflicted with AIDS and subsequently fired when his illness was discovered by the partners in the firm. Beckett tries to hire a lawyer to sue his former employers at Wyant Wheeler for discrimination but is rebuffed by every lawyer he visited. His fortunes changed when Joe Miller, played by Denzel Washington, a lawyer he once defeated in an earlier court case, decided to represent him in court after witnessing discriminatory acts against Beckett. After a series of proceedings, Beckett finally succeeds in his case, setting a precedent in America. 

This movie was inspired by the true story of Geoffrey Bowers, an attorney who, in 1987, sued American law firm Baker and McKenzie in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases in the country.

The screenplay provides a backdrop that forces the viewer to examine the struggle between discrimination and morality (or rather, perceived morality).

The central dilemma of the movie is whether it is ethical to fire a man who is fully competent at his job simply because he has a disorder or a lifestyle judged to be morally reprehensible.

In examining this dilemma, a question arises: should the lifestyle of an employee come under the purview of the employer? In the film, Beckett was seen to be an extremely competent lawyer. Self-assured and meticulous, he had defended numerous clients with great success, and also befriended the firm’s management, including Wheeler himself. 

Things came undone when lesions on his face, a unique symptom of AIDS, had become apparent to all. Beckett was subsequently fired on grounds of incompetence due to an incident which could have been staged by the firm. 

The ubiquitous theme of discrimination based on sexual orientation and HIV status is arguably the most important ethical issue that underlies the movie. Several key events in the film illustrate this.

Philadelphia is a beautiful movie which showed perceptive insights into an AIDS victim perceptively in a poetic sort of way. While it was undoubtedly hard hitting, the superficial character development weakened the strong statement sent out in the movie because it did not allow viewers space to think and evaluate. Nonetheless, the dilemmas of discrimination brought up in the movie is more relevant today, than ever.