Philadelphia(1993)

POOPER: (Thanks Curt!)
Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) wins his lawsuit, but he’s in no condition to celebrate. He dies shortly thereafter.

LONG VERSION:
Over the course of the case Andrew managed to successfully bring forward to trial against his former employer Charles Wheeler (Jason Robards), with the help of fellow lawyer/former rival Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), many major revelations and changes slowly come to light, most of them stemming from the troubled general perception the public had, at the time, towards AIDS and homosexuality.

During the trial itself, the defense team of Wheeler and associates -represented by attorneys Belinda Conine (Mary Steenburgen) and Jerome Green (Obba Babatundé)- goes at great lengths to discredit the figure and work of Andrew, by trying to show him as a barely-above-average lawyer who lied about who he was, constantly neglected his work and, to a certain extent, “got what was coming to him” by allowing himself to get infected with HIV through anonymous sexual encounters. Moreover, Miss Conine herself tries to establish for the record that Wheeler and his associates had no way whatsoever of knowing that Andrew was showing signs of AIDS, something Andrew himself disputed from the beginning due to Kaposi Sarcoma lesions that were somewhat visible on his face, earlier in the film.

In turn, Joe defies these statements when Melissa Benedict (Kathryn Witt), a former co-worker of Walter Kenton (Robert Ridgely), testifies in court that she was known to have been suffering of AIDS -her, having acquired it through a transfusion of contaminated blood-, which makes it clear that Kenton had to have known, and told the rest of the team, about Andrew’s condition. Additionally, Joe manages to prove, to the shock and anguish of everyone present, by having Andrew show his bare chest, that THE SKIN LESIONS WERE VISIBLE.

On a personal level, Andrew and Joe develop a strong bond while working on the details of the case; Joe, in turn, without completely giving up his way of thinking towards gay people -he still shows, a couple of times, that he did not approve of that type of lifestyle-, does become, however, more empathetic and respectful. Eventually, Andrew has the chance to testify, disclosing that he almost came clean towards his employers but refrained from it due to their visible homophobia, and that he believed in himself as an excellent, hard-working lawyer and still had some admiration for Charles, despite the events that led to the lawsuit, for giving him the chance back then.

In the course of Charles’ testimony -where he insists that he did not know Andrew had AIDS and fired him solely based on the Hyline Complaint incident and the alleged mediocrity lately perceived in Andrew-, Andrew suffers a grave medical crisis and has to be hospitalized, thus missing the remainder of the trial. Later on, law firm partner Bob Seidman (Ron Vawter) admits that “he did suspect Andrew had AIDS and regretted never having told everyone else”, which unwillingly boosts Andrew’s case.

The lawsuit ends with a victory in Andrew’s favour, where he is awarded over $4,000,000.00 Dollars in damages. Sadly, by this point, it is evident he will not recover from his crisis. Joe visits Andrew in hospital and, visibly free of his fears, says his goodbyes by gently touching Andrew’s face. One by one, the family members also bid him farewell and leave until only his partner Miguel (Antonio Banderas) is left, to whom Andrew tells “he is ready”.

Later that same night, Joe and Lisa (Lisa Summerour) are informed that Andrew died. The movie ends with a sequence of a memorial where friends and relatives -Joe included- gather to mourn, pay their respects and watch old home movies of the Beckett family with a young, happy, healthy Andrew on display.