Thanks for the memories!

Simply A Masterpiece

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

These sort of documentaries really make me mad and sad at the same time. If you really look into AIDS/HIV soon you will realize that it's one of the biggest lies the pharmaceutical tycoons have managed to force feed the general population. They did such a good job that whole groups of activists now scream for drugs that will actually cause "AIDS symptoms" and eventually kill them. Please watch 'House of Numbers' (it's also on youtube) to find out what's really behind the whole AIDS myth.To name a few facts: 1) There isn't a single test one can take that actually confirms or denies that a person has aids the enclosed instruction leaflet always tells you not to trust the results (you could test positive due to a common cold). 2) HIV has never been isolated there are only some vague photo's of something that could be a virus.

This film is recommended.David France's documentary, How To Survive A Plague, chronicles the devastating effect of AIDS upon the gay community from the mid eighties to present day. Through archival footage and direct interviews with activists and patients who fought against government bureaucracy, homophobia, and ignorance, the film also shows the history and political beginnings of gay, lesbian, and trans-genders who formed a group called ACT UP. This organization courageously battled the FDA, pharmaceutical companies, politicians, and hate- mongers, like Jesse Helms and his ilk, to try to stop this disease from reaching epidemic proportions with protest marches, sit-ins, and angry demonstrations to make the world aware of the severity of the problem.The film covers nearly two decades of public outcry and disdain for the lack of tolerance and expediency in preventing this scourge. At times, the documentary shows some of the protests against various institutions like the Roman Catholic Church, Ronald Reagan and George Bush, and Congress in sketchy terms with some details lacking. But in general, the film succeeds in painting a clear picture of these average citizens forced to become activists due to a lack of insight and compassion from those in power, those elected officials who chose to look the other way until the disease started to target the general public.How To Survive A Plague is an angry film, as well it should be. It profiles these heroic people whom continually found strength in each other while losing friends and loved ones in the process. This historic film helps to set the record straight as it shows their tragic tales without any bias or grandstanding. How To Survive A Plague becomes a life-affirming testament for those that lived and those that survived in the struggle against adversity and bigotry while keeping its focus on the dignity of a human life and a sense of equality and justice for all. GRADE: B Visit my blog at: www.dearmoviegoer.comANY COMMENTS: Please contact me at: jadepietro@rcn.comNOTE: Although a cure has been found to delay the fatality of this disease, the cost factor remains exorbitantly high for most average middle-class people. And so the fight continues...

I really don't understand how this doco only scores a 7.3. It's the most compelling piece of film I have seen in years, I was gripped from the beginning to the end. It is basically about the early fight for treatment research and recognition that HIV sufferers have a disease and were entitled to respect and humanity from the wider community as it was not a punishment from God for a so called "lifestyle choice".It is structured by piecing together a lot of archive film that is edited so brilliantly that it like watching a scripted film that tells a great story, a film with real stars and characters. The subject matter is based on HIV but what I took away from the film is how people with such a motivation did "act up" and used democracy to achieve an objective. It is compulsive viewing for any interested in any type of campaigning.My only criticism of the film is it did not fully explore the reason for the early antagonism toward people with the virus and why the medical establishment and governments at that time were slow to act. But in the end I seen a film about a story I did not know about, a story about successful democratic campaign that has saved millions of lives. I now think these early campaigners should have got Nobel recognition. The film is that powerful.

That seeming rarity: an incisive, heartfelt documentary about people doing good that is important, even today as AIDS is not the 'plague' it once was. It shows what people will do when they are pushed to a limit - it's not even about gay rights but about human rights, for proper health-care for the deathly ill. It's filmmaking that doesn't shy away from the rougher areas - when there is infighting in ACT UP, the director (first timer David France) shows it warts and all. But it's the heroism by the likes of Peter Staley and Mark Harrington that shines through the most. As Roger Ebert said, it's most emotional for the audience with a drama when seeing good people suffer, as do the people in ACT UP and in the AIDS crisis, and in doing good, against all odds. We get the sense that they were not just fighting for themselves, though that was certainly a big component, but fighting for the millions that needed the medicine that could at least be attempted. The saddest part is seeing the trial and error over the years, where people who did take the early drugs like ATX just didn't get better like they should've. It's a bittersweet conclusion since by the time the medicine did get to the point where AIDS was at least something people could try and not, you know, kill them, so many had already passed (the ticker per-year that comes up becomes more and more shocking, albeit a lot of these numbers were from Africa). As a document of the AIDS/HIV crisis and as a pure protest movie and 'Fight the Powers That Be!' saga, it's moving, harsh, and keeps its story moving with compelling people who faced up to the fact that their fight had to be about science even before it being a social issue. Oh, and the sort of 'reveal' you don't even expect in the last ten or so minutes... it shoots this up to being essential viewing.