Philadelphia
This was the first big-budget film to tackle the medical, social and political issues of AIDS. Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) is a talented lawyer in a powerful Philadelphia law firm. Andrew has contracted AIDS, but fears informing his firm about the disease. The firm's senior partner, Charles Wheeler (Jason Robards), assigns Andrew a case involving their most important client. Andrew begins work diligently, but soon a lesion associated with AIDS appears on his face. The papers Andrew has been working on are mysteriously sabotaged and Wheeler abruptly removes Andrew from the case and sacks him. Andrew believes he has been fired because of disability discrimination. He establishes his legal case and plans to fight the firm in court but, because of the firm's reputation, no lawyer will take Andrew's case.
Andrew goes to Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), a black lawyer who advertises on TV for personal injury cases. To start with, Miller, who is prejudiced against homosexuals, will not take the case. In a very powerful scene in the library, where the librarian tries to discriminate against Andrew, Joe begins to see that disability discrimination and race discrimination are not that different. Later, at a gay party, Miller feels very uncomfortable with Andrew and his gay lover (Antonio Banderas), but he sticks with the case and wins it. Andrew deteriorates through the film, as his AIDS advances, but his determination to prove discrimination keeps him going. Another positive aspect of the film is how Andrew's mother, father and grown-up siblings all accept him for who he is, his partner and the validity of his fight.
Make sure you prepare the ground by covering the material in the Introducing disability in class guidelines before looking at issues in any specific film.
