By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: David France
Country: united_states
Year: 2012
Running time: 120
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124803/
Bruce says: “HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE serves as a textbook for the pros and cons of various mechanisms surrounding a social movement responding to a crisis. ACT UP was founded in 1987 by a group of people who felt not enough was being done to address the AIDS crisis. Organizations such as the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GHMC) provided meals, offered a buddy program for those suffering from the disease, provided ombudsman service, ran safe sex seminars and disseminated information about the disease through hotlines. But no organization was proactive with the federal government and the drug companies. Initially ACT UP staged demonstrations to draw attention to the AIDS crisis. The first was on Wall Street in March of 1987. People lay down in the streets and took over buildings; the country began to take notice.
“Several ACT UP members realized that there was no knowledge base to deal with many of the issues; while railing about the problem drew attention there were no accompanying suggestions or plans of action. Several years after it was founded ACT UP split in two; the Treatment Action Group (TAG) emerged as the intellectual force which would deal with drug companies and the National Institute of Health (NIH) at conference tables rather than in the streets and lobbies. Many ACT UP members feared that those who understood the scientific issues were too close to the drug companies.
“HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE concentrates on several activists who brought unique thinking and skills to the table at a time when there was one AIDS death every half hour and Jesse Helms blabbered in Congress about ‘offensive revolting conduct.’ Iris Long, a scientific researcher from Queens, was the first to realize that scientific expertise was needed. While some ACT UP members wanted to increase black market drugs Iris Long stated ‘We don’t want a black market, we want the real market to work.’ Peter Staley created AIDSMeds, an interactive application to determine what drugs may be used in combination effectively and what combinations might be lethal. Mark Harrington created a glossary of terms so that everyone could talk using a common language. He also was instrumental in working with the FDA to change the way drugs were tested. Other countries were bringing drugs to market in six months where the FDA was taking 7-10 years.
“David France had to make many choices in telling this story. For the most part he did a fabulous job using a variety of talking heads to inform the viewer and document the mood of the times. Cardinal O’Connor, Elizabeth Taylor, Mathilda Krim, Dr. Howard Grossman and Pat Buchanan offer disparate views and represent the many aspects of the crisis. The film stops in 1985 just before major discoveries regarding the nature of the disease and new treatment regimens were announced. I would have liked the film to end on those high notes. What France does so admirably is document the importance of leadership. HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE leaves the viewer with a better understanding of the importance of both emotional and intellectual responses to crises. The various methods employed by activists in the AIDS crisis have become blueprints for other causes. 4.5 cats
“(HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE screened at the 2012 Provincetown International Film Festival.)”
Chris says: “David France’s documentary takes on the elaborate task of weaving together presumably a warehouse-sized arsenal of archival footage to recount the story of ACT UP, a coalition of AIDS activists formed in New York in 1987. Part of what makes this film so successful is in how effectively its narrative unfolds—not one clip feels unnecessary and a few moments such as writer Larry Kramer’s passionate address to a mob scene that gives the film its title are as powerful as anything you’d ever see in a work of fiction. More importantly, the film serves as a vital record of an era of crisis, fear and uncertainty that now seems far away due to the current availability of and improvements in life-prolonging medication for people living with AIDS. It’s often a hard film to watch, but absolutely essential viewing in order to understand how a disease ravaged a culture, and what the culture did to combat it. 5 cats”