Critique Film on Philadelphia In any motion picture one of the most important creative aspects is the light and the how it sets the mood and tone for the movie. Philadelphia is no different than any other film, at least not in this category. Jonathan Demme uses light in this movie just like any other director however, he puts his own twist on it. Philadelphia's major tone is hopeful and somewhat somber and this is reflected in the lighting that Demme uses. However, even in the more somber and sad scenes such as the hospital scene in the end of the movie the lighting is still bright evoking a hopeful mood, there is no doubt that Demme did this to keep the setting of the movie steady and to not make the ending sad but rather to make it uplifting. Another prevalent technique that Demme uses is the constant usage of the color red in the film. This is extremely important because it represents the AIDS virus and red is also the color of passion and this movie is an extremely passionate movie about extremely passionate ideals. In any movie, one of the most important things that a director can use in their movie is music. Music is by far one of the most important aspects that go into creating a movie. Jonathan Demme chose top notch when he decided that Howard Shore was going to write the music for his film. Howard Shore is by far one of the greatest film score composers of modern day, he has composed the music for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and for many other Hollywood blockbusters. The reason Howard Shore is such a prolific film score composer is because he knows how to use music effectively. I watched an interview with a director once and, the director said that you should be able to tell the mood of the scene with opening your eyes, only listening. This is because music is supposed to evoke emotion from the viewer and Howard Shore does this extremely well throughout the movie. Howard Shore set the mood for each scene, but he did it without using a bunch of "in your face" music. There weren't any scenes in which I thought
music could be taken out or rearranged. In my opinion the music fit the movie very well. If I could have changed one thing about the music however, it would be the fact that Howard Shore wrote a recurring musical theme for the movie, but not for the individual characters. I think if he would have done that it would have added a lot of depth to the actors emotional credibility. However important directing and music are in a film, nothing even comes close to the undisputed importance of acting dramatization and to a film. The reason being is the fact that the director and screenwriter could write the most emotionally powerful screenplay ever, but if you don't have somebody who can deliver the lines, then it really doesn't matter how good the screenplay is. However, luckily for Demme he had Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks to deliver the lines and the case can be made that these men are two of the greatest actors of our time. One scene that completely demonstrated to me the ability of Denzel Washington to act was the pharmacy scene in which he is hit on by a gay man. These scene is a perfect scene to look at to critique Denzel's acting, the emotion in which delivers the lines in this scene is unburdened by any real sense of falseness. In other words, he is completely believable whether or not we believe in the ideals that he states we certainly know that he believes them. As for Tom Hanks, he is, in my opinion, one of the best actors of our time. So, it goes without saying that he did a wonderful job in this movie. One scene that demonstrates his skill as an actor is the ending hospital scene. Tom Hanks' character doesn't say much in this scene however, all the emotion in the scene isn't taken from what he is saying but how he is saying it and the expressions on his face. Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington both did an incredible job acting in this movie. Very rarely does a film come along that challenges the fabric of society and the essence of storytelling. Movies like Citizen Kane fall into this category, and although Philadelphia does not quite compare to Citizen Kane, it was still a movie that dared to address an issue that many
people at the time did not want to address, AIDS. It brought the disease to the forefront it showed the masses the life ruining potential AIDS. The major theme in this movie is hope. Everything in this movie points to hope as its main theme, hope and fight against all odds. That's what Tom Hanks' character does in the movie and that's what he is telling you to do in life. Another theme in this movie comes from an age old adage "don't judge a book by its cover." From the beginning of the movie Denzel judges Tom Hanks and this movie is trying to explain that life is too short for judgment and hatred. I would, without a shadow of doubt, recommend this movie to everyone. It is a great story about the tribulations of one man and how against all odd the unfettered truth won; it's a great story with great morals. I will definitely recommend this to my friends and other people that I know.