This sequence was a pure example of an actor taking a character to new depths of emotion. Tom Hanks, playing Andy, a gay man dying of AIDS and suing the firm who fired him because of it, interrupts the Q&A review with his attorney Denzel Washington to listen to and interpret the opera playing on the stereo, a haunting yet beautiful opera by Maria Callas. As he begins intepreting the lines, he gets more deeply involved in it, reciting lines that could just as well as apply to his own life right then -- "I bring sorrow to those who love me" -- "Oh! that single cello!" -- "I am love" -- "I am the God who comes down from the heavens and makes of the earth a heaven." It's a stunningly powerful scene in an overall incredible performance by Tom Hanks, who deservedly won an Oscar for it. Director Jonathan Demme also added several good filmmaking touches during the sequence, making the light from the fire in the room appear more vibrant and red, finally calming down as the opera ends.