Philadelphia For The Movie's Final Sequence example essay topic
The most memorable, powerful scenes, in fact, are those awkward moments that are examined as we see how people around Andrew react upon learning of his illness - the most famous ones being Washington's reaction to Hanks in his office and the confrontation in the public library between Hanks and an employee there. Demme also does an admirable job in making the City of Brotherly Love a real presence in the movie. The opening credit sequence is a beautiful montage of all the great sights of the city and its people, giving us a real sense of the metropolis. From the rich neighborhoods to the slums, from the working class to the homeless sleeping on the streets - it all plays wonderfully as we witness many of them waving to the camera, all from different backgrounds, cultures and races, and all very proud to be Philadelphians. To me, it's one of the best opening credit sequences in recent memory. Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia" plays over it all and it's still as emotionally involving as it was back when it was ruling the airwaves in '93.
The song is book ended nicely by Neil Young's equally moving "Philadelphia" for the movie's final sequence featuring home videos of Beckett as a child, playing and enjoying life to its full extent, as only a child could. The performances are ace, across the board, with a special tip of the hat going out to Washington and Jason Robards, who is always brilliant but seems to especially shine in Demme films (see: MELVIN & HOWARD). I'd qualify PHILADELPHIA as being a very good movie but falling just short of being great; it just didn't seem to leave that lasting impression, a movie like this is expected to leave.