Opened: December 14, 1993

Directed by: Jonathan Demme

Starring: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Jason Robards, Mary Steenburgen, Antonio Banderas, Joanne Woodward, Robert W. Castle, Ann Dowd, Adam LeFevre, John Bedford Lloyd, Dan Olmstead, Lisa Summerour, Charles Napier, Roberta Maxwell, Roger Corman, David Drake, Harry Northup, Bill Rowe, Chandra Wilson, Daniel von Bargen, Karen Finley, Robert Ridgely, Bradley Whitford, Ron Vawter, Anna Deavere Smith & Obba Babatundé

Philadelphia is a hard-hitting film that changed Hollywood focusing on HIV/AIDS, homophobia and portraying gay people in a positive light.

Andy Beckett (Tom Hanks) is a promising young lawyer at his firm but is privately suffering from AIDS. When he’s unjustly fired from his company, he seeks legal action. Though he turns Andy away at first, Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) takes on the case despite his repulsion by gay people.

Hanks and Washington are brilliant in the film with complex roles that see Hanks physically and Washington emotionally change. From early in the film, Joe is open about his dislike for gay people, but you see their friendship change him. The film strives to show gay people and those fighting AIDS not as others, but as somebody’s son, brother, uncle, etc.

Final say: Brilliant work that’s groundbreaking for its time. ★★★★★