If life could be repeated, Woodruff might not be so indulgent, and Raymond would choose to be a girl. However, as Woodruff said from his mouth in the movie, "there is only one life", so they struggled to survive even the most painful life. Most people will not be ready to leave this world tomorrow, the day after, or this month, and even when they are really judged to die, they will not easily believe it in their hearts. People may indulge in indulgence, either in the hope of enjoying a short time, or in a stubborn response to God's judgment. It is only when their physiology begins to collapse that they fall completely into despair and fear. Some people give up struggling, some face it calmly, but there are exceptions. On the "last day" of their lives, they still don't want to believe in the coming of death. This person is Woodruff. Woodruff says "I don't wanna die" more than once in the film. According to the inertia of thinking we have developed over the years, a person who does not want to die must have something to worry about. However, when Woodruff was diagnosed with AIDS, his condition was already very serious. He had spent almost all his money on medicines, and his friends had deserted him one by one. At first glance, there was nothing important to worry about, but after thinking about it, he actually Woodruff didn't live for others, he lived for himself. The harsh environment aroused his determination to live. He was seeing his residence sprayed with insulting text, shouting "I'm still living here" as if he was shouting "I'm still alive".
Woodruff is a complete cowboy, with the unruly, undefeated spirit and vitality of a cowboy. In addition to being an ordinary electrician, Woodruff is also a cowboy in the film. At the beginning of the film, the cowboy that Woodruff bet on fell to the ground in less than eight seconds, which not only serves as a plot, but also implies that Woodruff may fall heavily to the ground in the following days. At the end of the film, Woodruff, who has been sentenced to death by doctors for many years, gets on the horse again. In the picture, Woodruff does not fall to the ground, but persists long enough on the horse as an outstanding cowboy. The appearance of this scene is also a generalization of the development of the film's plot. Even after being ill, Woodruff is still like a cowboy who refuses to admit defeat and pursues the life he wants - even if he eventually dies prematurely. .
In those times of fear of AIDS, having AIDS was like telling people that you were a promiscuous homosexual, because the majority of AIDS patients were homosexuals. Woodruff was soon estranged and even insulted by former friends after his illness. Therefore, in addition to the disease itself, Woodruff also needs to face the pressure of public opinion. After starting a drug business, Woodruff had to take the initiative to face the gay community - after all, Woodruff had the most clients here. Later, he also had his own business partner - Raymond, a gay man who likes to dress differently. The rare thing about the film is that through the perspectives of Woodruff and Raymond, we can see a corner of the gay community and try to understand them in a more specific life. Raymond is a paradox. He has a female gender consciousness but a male body. So he dresses himself up as a woman and he likes men. In addition to bringing psychological pressure to himself, the contradiction in his heart also tore his family apart. The director presents the state of this group (women's clothing, parties, drug use) and so on in front of the audience. The film does not deliberately let the public accept this group, but tries to make the audience understand how they are in the face of illness and death. struggle and effort. In the film, Woodruff takes a tolerant attitude. He rejected Raymond's style of dressing up the office as a woman. He masturbated to actresses and had sex with female AIDS patients in the office. He always revealed a rigid masculine, cowboy temperament. However, this did not prevent him from forming a community with Raymond and more AIDS patients. He once worked for Raymond in the supermarket, as a "nutritionist" asking Raymond to pay attention to his diet, and when Raymond died later, he was furious, and sold his car to let patients who were short of money join the club. There is a process of his transformation in the middle: he finds the value of his own survival in the struggle, and it also shows that he treats homosexual AIDS patients more from the perspective of empathy. As someone who was also sentenced by the god of death, he and this group of people formed a united front and worked hard to survive. Woodruff may be able to provide us with a hint to avoid making judgments in the first place when confronting AIDS patients and gay groups, but to approach them with empathy.
In fact, in addition to Reaper, Woodruff and the others need to fight more people. Pharmaceutical companies and doctors use patients as experimental products for commercial interests, and the Food and Drug Administration is too prudent in the release of new drugs because of its adherence to the law. Woodruff shattered the superstition of authority from his miraculous experience of being rescued, and turned himself into an expert. We can't deny that Woodruff is doing clubs for his own benefit, but with the deepening of empathy for people with AIDS, the indifference and selfish anger towards hospitals and other institutions, and the realization that life is limited so that he can't have more Enjoying wealth and desire, he finally waved the banner of self-help for people with AIDS, and pointed the finger at hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and the Food and Drug Administration. That is, in this process, the struggle gave his life more meaning. At the end of the film, Woodruff returned to the club at the end of his lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration, and was applauded by everyone. More than this moment, Woodruff is considered a hero.
Finally, back to the way the film was shot, I really liked the director's objectivity and calmness. There is not too much emotional rendering in the whole film. Even when Raymond died, there was only Woodruff's protest to the doctor for a few seconds. The movie is also not interpreted in the way people are accustomed to attribution. Woodruff is not perfect. He built the club to make money, and he never thought about doing charity. The movie is very real and objective. It is worth mentioning that the author spent a lot of space depicting scenes such as drug use and sexual intercourse. I think these are reductive scenes showing why they get sick and get worse. But instead of seeing it as depraved, the director presents it as a normal part of these people's lives. With the later episodes of Druff calling for sexual services but not completing it (probably impotence), and Raymond's condition worsening due to drug use, I think it objectively shows that they are struggling with the disease as a pain: Fighting disease is painful, and indulgence is an easy temptation, but just because life is precious, we must choose to survive and refuse temptation.
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