**A powerful film about the will to survive and the coldness of big pharma** Matthew McConaughey gives an amazing performance as Ron Woodroof the homophobic, hard partying electrician/rodeo cowboy who becomes HIV positive due to some poor lifestyle choices. Ostracised by his friends for having what was at the time considered a gay disease he goes on a damaging bender before discovering he has full blown AIDS. When faced with a death sentence and ineffective drugs approved by the FDA, he heads to Mexico to source and import medication not available in the US, and decides to sell it to help himself and others while making a tidy profit. Jared Leto is magnetic as Rayon, a drug addicted gay man who becomes Woodroof's business partner and eventually his friend. Both actors lost a significant amount of weight for the role, which lends real authenticity and gravity to the film. Made on a shoestring budget, with little to no special effects, this film is all about the story and the performances. The battles with the FDA trying to circumvent red tape, and get people medication they desperately need is frustrating and all too realistic. Big pharma calls the shots, manipulates data and statistics and keeps peddling their toxic expensive medication, while Woodroof battles for the rights to treat himself with medicine he knows works. It is a David and Goliath story, a look at an era when AIDS was virtually untreatable and running out of control. One man's battle against bureaucracy told with charm and panache. 8/10

Hats off to Matthew McConaughey here as he takes method acting to an whole new level. He must have lost nearly half of his body weight as he dons the role of Ron Woodruff. Woodroof is a fairly odious womanising bigot at the height of the AIDS epidemic who carries on his life recklessly assuming that he is in no danger. Well, he is soon disabused of that by a doctor who informs him that a life of casual shagging and intravenous drug use has seen him become HIV+ and likely to have about one month left to live! Initially disrespectful and sceptical, he begins to read up on the disease and realises that it’s no joke - and there is no treatment. Determined to thwart the grim reaper for as long as he can, he decides to take matters into his own hands and try out some of the un-licensed “treatments” being touted about in everywhere from Mexico to Germany. Indeed, before long he has turned his erstwhile dealing skills to better use and is importing drugs galore - all of which are, in themselves, perfectly legal - which he hopes will provide a cocktail of armament against the virus. Needless to say, the authorities take a very dim view on his peddling of untried and untested medication and frequently attempt to shut him down, even though they have no alternative to his suck it and see solutions. Along the way, “Eve” (Jennifer Garner) - one of the original doctors whom he consulted, realises that official channels are failing not just him, but hundreds like him and so decides to jump ship and help with the cause that he and his pal “Rayon” (Jared Leto) have taken to their hearts with their monthly “club”. There are three really powerful and convincing performances here and it’s certainly the best I’ve seen from Leto as he actually seems to relate to his character in a way that he can’t often be accused of. McConaughey almost sweats his part as he marries Woodroof’s initial profligacy with an increasing sense of purpose that cannot fail to impress as he not only defies the original prognosis (by quite a few years) but by also raising the profile of this killer and puncturing some of the myths that had evolved around it’s “gay plague” status. The writing is real, gritty and often quite darkly funny; the pace of the film hits the ground running and rarely pauses for breath and the assessment of the political and pharmaceutical indifference/intransigence is powerfully evoked throughout this rather fortifying story of just how much difference can be made when courage is coupled with determination. It’s not for the squeamish, but it’s a film that desensitises potently without any rose-tinting.