A 1993 film starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. I had seen it when I was younger but it didn’t have any real effect on me, I didn’t know what was going on. I watched it again just last year upon the insistence of a friend. I cried, I had never really thought about things like that in such depth.

The movie is about a gay man with the AIDS virus, in a time when it was simply unacceptable to be gay, and the virus was often misunderstood entirely. He is fired from his job in a prominant law office after the firm figures out that he is homosexual, and has AIDS. He decides to sue them for wrongful termination. Tom Hanks pulls off an amazing, brilliant, heart-wrenching performance, and 性藥 Denzel Washington follows closely behind.

The soundtrack is also nice.. very nice. It features Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia”, and the achingly beautiful “Philadelphia” by Neil Young.

This film was a sort of awakening for me.. there are a few scenes that provoked emotions far beyond words. There is a point where Andy is walking down the street and sees his reflection in a window, after being turned down by lawyer after lawyer who wanted nothing to do with him. “Streets of Philadelphia” is playing in the background..

I was bruised and battered and I couldn’t tell
What I felt
I was unrecognizable to myself
I saw my reflection in a window I didn’t know
My own face
Oh brother are you gonna leave me
Wastin’ away
On the streets of Philadelphia

I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
Black and whispering as the rain
On the streets of Philadelphia

Ain’t no angel gonna greet me
It’s just you and I my friend
My clothes don’t fit me no more
I walked a thousand miles
Just to slip this skin

The night has fallen, I’m lyin’ awake
I can feel myself fading away
So receive me brother with your faithless kiss
Or will we leave each other alone like this
On the streets of Philadelphia
It’s a beautiful movie, watch it.