Philadelphia (film)

Plot[edit]

Andrew Beckett is a senior associate at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia. He conceals his homosexuality and his status as an AIDS patient from others in the office. A partner in the firm notices a lesion on Beckett's forehead. Although Beckett attributes the lesion to a racquetball injury, it indicates Kaposi's sarcoma, an AIDS-defining condition.


Beckett stays home from work for several days to try to find a way to hide his lesions. He finishes the paperwork for a case he has been assigned and brings it to his office, leaving instructions for his assistants to file it the following day, which marks the end of the statute of limitations for the case. The next day, he receives a call asking for the paperwork, as it cannot be found and there are no copies on the computer's hard drive. The paperwork is finally located in an alternative location and is filed with the court at the last moment. Beckett is called to a meeting the morning afterwards where the firm's partners dismiss him.


Beckett believes someone deliberately hid the paperwork to give the firm an excuse to fire him and that the termination is a result of his AIDS status and his sexuality. He asks ten attorneys to take his case, the last of whom is African-American personal injury lawyer Joe Miller, whom Beckett previously opposed in a different case. Miller appears uncomfortable that a man with AIDS is in his office. After declining to take the case, Miller immediately visits his doctor to find out if he could have contracted the disease. The doctor explains that the routes of HIV infection do not include casual contact.


Unable to find a lawyer willing to represent him, Beckett is compelled to act as his own attorney. While conducting research at a law library, Miller sees Beckett at a nearby table. A librarian approaches Beckett and says that he has found a case of AIDS discrimination for him. As others in the library begin to stare uneasily, the librarian suggests Beckett go to a private room. Seeing parallels in racial discrimination he has experienced, Miller approaches Beckett, reviews the material he has gathered, and agrees to take the case.


As the case goes to trial, the partners of the firm take the stand, each claiming that Beckett was incompetent and that he had deliberately tried to hide his condition. The defense repeatedly point out Beckett brought AIDS upon himself via willing gay sex with strangers and is therefore not a victim. It is revealed that the partner who noticed Beckett's lesion, Walter Kenton, previously worked with a woman who contracted AIDS after a blood transfusion and thus he should have recognized the lesion as being a symptom of an AIDS-related illness. According to Kenton, the woman was an innocent victim, unlike Beckett, and he further testifies that he did not recognize Beckett's lesion. To prove that the lesions would have been visible, Miller asks Beckett to unbutton his shirt while on the witness stand, revealing that his lesions are indeed visible and recognizable as such. Throughout the trial, Miller's homophobia slowly disappears as he and Beckett bond from working together.


Beckett collapses and is hospitalized after Charles Wheeler, the partner he most admired, testifies against him. Another partner, Bob Seidman, confesses that he suspected Beckett had AIDS but never told anyone and didn't allow him to talk about it, which he deeply regrets. During Beckett's hospital stay, the jury votes in his favor, awarding him back pay, damages for pain and suffering, and punitive damages, totaling over $5 million. Miller visits the visibly failing Beckett in the hospital after the verdict and overcomes his fear enough to touch Beckett's face. After the family leaves the room, Beckett tells his lover Miguel Alvarez that he is "ready". At the Miller home later that night, Miller and his wife are awakened by a phone call from Alvarez, who tells them that Beckett has died. A memorial is held at Beckett's home, where many mourners, including Miller and his family, view home movies of Beckett as a happy child.