Top of this week’s picks is the incredible story of how a group of ordinary people who were infected with the AIDS virus, or somehow affected by it, became health activists in a desperate bid to slow down the AIDS epidemic in New York City during the 1980s and 90s.
Top of this week’s picks is the incredible story of how a group of ordinary people who were infected with the AIDS virus, or somehow affected by it, became health activists in a desperate bid to slow down the AIDS epidemic in New York City during the 1980s and 90s.
How to Survive a Plague (Saturday 1st December, 8.30pm) is a messy, passionate, heartbreaking and uplifting look at two activist groups which grew out of the AIDS crisis, ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) and TAG (Treatment Action Group). Together they worked tirelessly to learn more about the AIDS virus and potential treatments that might slow the virus down, and then lobbied the government agencies that had the power to make these drugs accessible.
The documentary follows these groups from 1986 to 1997 (when the winning cocktail of drugs was discovered), as they protest against the government, the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration), the National Institute of Health, and drug companies. They were focused on speeding up the research process for potential AIDS and HIV drugs that they believed would transform AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable disease.
What’s makes this documentary so compelling is the almost unlimited archive footage filmmaker David France has had access too. There’s TV footage and present day interviews, but it was the invention of the home video camcorder that really allows us to understand this fight for life. The groups realised the relevance and importance of their battle and began filming their meetings, protests and casual conversations, and it’s a treasure trove of footage that provides insight into a hugely important event and time in our social history.
How To Survive a Plague is proudly brought to you by the New Zealand AIDS Foundation in support of World AIDS Day on December 1st. Visit www.gettingtozero.org.nz.
French films have been entertaining us this month in Rialto’s World Cinema, and this week Audrey Tautou, one of France’s most charming actresses, amuses us in Beautiful Lies (Tuesday 27th November, 8.30pm)
In director Pierre Salvadori’s (Apres Vous, Priceless) romantic comedy little lies become large misunderstandings. Tautou plays a hairdresser trying to cheer up her mother, who is still coming to grips with her husband leaving her 4 years earlier, by sending her fake love letters. The performances are good, the southern town of Sète a lovely location, so while it’s a little predictable it’s the perfect movie if you want to put your feet up with something light and sweet.
You get the feeling from watching Vidal Sassoon: The Movie (Thursday 29th, 8.30pm) that Mr. Sassoon is thrilled his remarkable journey, from Jewish orphanage in the East End of London to world famous hairdresser and businessman, is being turned into a film.
Sassoon fronts this stylish looking documentary by Craig Teper, and is charming and delightful. He certainly knows how to tell a good story and his charisma comes through in spades, although there’s a lack of spontaneity and a sense everything has been meticulously planned and practiced. That said, it’s a fascinating story about a man who became a brand by revolutionising the art of hairstyling.
Enjoy.