5 Films About HIV/AIDS You Should Watch At Least Once

These are five movies about HIV/AIDS you should definitely watch at least one time in your life…
 
HIV/AIDS are often one of the most misunderstood illnesses, which has a very negative perception in the eyes of the general public. Since the rise of the epidemic in the early 1980’s, millions of people around the globe have contracted the sickness and been subject to various cases of criticism and mistreatment as a result of the lack of public knowledge.
 
While the times have begun changing and the education surrounding HIV/AIDS has also increased drastically, it seems the public still has a long way to go in order to further improve medical treatment, protective measures against the sickness, and showing compassion toward those, whom have contracted the illness.
 
Here are five movies that discuss HIV/AIDs that you should watch at least once in your life.
 
Dallas Buyers Club
This 2013 drama stars Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof, an electrician and rodeo cowboy from Dallas. Taking place in 1985, Woodroof contracts AIDs and is given 30 days to live, soon to be shunned by his family, lose his job and his house.
 
While his initial treatment is ineffective, Woodroof drives to Mexico and meets with Dr. Vass, who gives him medicine that is unapproved by the FDA but is successful in improving his health. Alongside a transgender woman named Rayon (Jared Leto), he begins the Dallas Buyers Club and sells the illicit medicine.
 
The film won a total of six awards between the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards. While many characters in the film are fictitious, the story is based on true events and exposes the reality for many HIV/AIDS patients in the early days of the epidemic.
 
Philadelphia
Starring Tom Hanks as Andrew Beckett, a secretly homosexual man who unfortunately contracts AIDS. Beckett is a senior associate at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia but is dismissed after his employers ‘lose’ his paperwork, which he believes is truly about his illness.
 
The 1993 film follows his legal battle against his former employers, with the help of personal injury lawyer Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), whom despite being homophobic and fearful of Beckett’s sickness, sympathizes with his client’s mistreatment.
 
The film is loosely based on the 1987 case of Geoffrey Bowers, and won a wave of awards including at the Golden Globes, MTV Movie Awards and the Academy Awards.
 
Kids
Despite it’s cute and playful name, this 1995 independant film follows the hedonistic lifestyle of several teenagers in New York City. Taking place during the heightened AIDS epidemic in the mid-90’s, the film reveals the dangers of drug use and unprotected sex.
 
The movie follows Jennie (Chloë Sevigny), whom after contracting HIV from one sexual encounter, tracks down her former partner Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick) to inform him that he is HIV-positive. Telly has a fetish for virgins and insists on only pursuing them for his ‘sexual conquests.’
 
The film won four awards at the 1995 Independent Spirit Awards and is often praised for its revelation of the dangers that urban life poses to the youth, including drug use, STD-related issues and sexual and physical abuse.
 
Precious
This 2009 drama takes place in Harlem, New York, and follows the life of Precious (Gabourey Sidibe), a high school student who is subject to various forms of abuse in her home life. After being molested by her father, the young girl becomes pregnant and is moved to an alternative school.
 
The school offers Precious an opportunity for a better life, but after giving birth, the young woman is forced out of her house by her mother and finds out her sexually abusive father died of AIDS, which he passed on to her.
 
The film was based on the book Push by author Sapphire. Precious won dozens of awards, including the People’s Choice Awards, GLAAD Media Awards, and six Academy Award nominations.
 
Rent
This 2005 musical drama based on the 1996 Broadway musical of the same name follows the lives of several Bohemians from New York’s East Village during 1989/1990. The film discusses subjects such as drug abuse, sexuality, financial troubles and the revelation of struggles with HIV/AIDS.
 
The musical follows several of the characters’ love interests, many of whom are HIV-positive, and the fears they share in the stigma it holds. Six of the original Broadway cast members star in the film, and a motion picture soundtrack featuring all of the songs in the film were also released.
 
Despite the film not winning any accolades, the Broadway production has won several awards including four TONY Awards, five Drama Desk Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and two Theatre World Awards.