Denzel Washington: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Joe Miller - Philadelphia

Washington didn't only tackle tough social commentary with Spike Lee, although that director was admittedly the master. In 1993 he starred opposite Tom Hanks in the multiple award winning Philadelphia, a stirring and important drama which was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality, and homophobia - at a time when all of those topics were at the centre of the cultural conversation. Jonathan Demme was moved to direct the film after a friend of his, the illustrator Juan Suarez Botas, was diagnosed with the virus, and the pain, anguish and anger he felt is right there on the screen. Hanks plays a lawyer who begins to suffer from the effects of AIDS and is dismissed unfairly from his job; Washington plays the attorney who helps him sue his former employers. Though it appears to be a fairly standard courtroom drama the hot button topics the film touches on elevates it from your usual John Grisham fare. It probably didn't hurt to have Washington on board, either, who provides a barnstorming performance opposite Hanks' brave (and slowly fading) turn as the tragic Andrew Beckett. Washington's Joe Miller is a hack attorney, a Saul Goodman type who advertises on TV, who has no time for gay people and only takes on Miller's cases for the publicity; inevitably, he comes around, but not with any schmaltzy dialogue or melodramatic Road To Damascus revelation. Instead Miller watches the ailing Beckett identify an opera playing in his hospital room. In a wordless but amazing performance, Washington suddenly realises the tragedy of what's happening, returning home to stare sleepless into the dark. If a guy can make you cry just from laying in bed, you know he's a damn fine actor.