And the band played on
Mood:
hug me
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Topic: Entertainment
And the band played on
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In this day, age, era...epoch, you're more likely to associate such a saying with the constant carousing and cavorting of the mainstream media with the US/co-alitions' incursion into Iraq.
And not a book by San Francisco Chronicle journalist Randy Shilts written and published over two decades ago.
I watched the filmed version of the non-fiction book late last night for the second time in my life. It was probably a little more than 12 years ago that I had seen it for the first time.
Its funny how it occured to me, that what "AIDS" was back then, is what 'global warming' is today. The arguments were there, the hyperbole, the protracted debates, the rationalizations,the exxagerations,the finger pointing, the conspiracies,the slow responses from government.
You;d think such a film would either ooze sentimentality or be a stinging rebuttal to our response to AIDS? Its done with such care. Youd think deliberate care?
All the action is actually a lot of talk between men of science (and a few women), and shows for a second or two the oft unstated unseen clashes of scientific ego that occured between the French scientists and American.
I think it may be one of the first times that actor Matt Modine was front and center in a film, and it certainly left a strong impression on me. More than a plumb cherry picked "thinking mans hero", his portrayal of this not dispassionate character brings about a blended inpiration we should feel from his actions and a catharsis of sorts we should have for the people we see, and have seen, bled into the headlines of that day.
I do remember feeling moved; inspired...actually yes in awe of the nobleness of his actions.
It's one of those films that without prejudice from any film critic gets a constant ***** FIVE STAR rating. The camera like a witness; we the viewer, pricking our sensibilities without trying to induce some form of guilt.
Between intersplices of strung together jump cut edits of news tid bits, like how a haz-mat squad showed up at a car accident when they learned an AIDS victim was involved, nurses quitting rather than work with AIDS patients, all the hype and inflated hysteria contrasting so jarringly with
the portrayals of the petty rivalries of men of science threatening to maddingly delay research for years and also the otherwise innocent men and women who would were infected with AIDS through blood transfusions
in the end; at the close of the film, is the most perfectly rendered final touch, a montage of news items of famous AIDs victims and strangers, played to Elton Johns song "The Last Song"
In that way, the whole film feels like we have invested some of our time and energy for a worthy cause, like we have participated in an ode to love. And havent been tricked or fooled along the way.
Its six minutes but its worth it to plug the YouTube video in case someone out there wants to urther reward themselves by seeing the film. One can't say with surety "It will change the way you think"...the film shows too many people who have suffered that cause.
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In the news: 20 years later, the band still plays on
Posted by mach1231
at 7:30 AM PST
Updated: Tuesday, January 8, 2008 8:16 AM PST
suave
WHat a joke.
caffeinated
cool
lazy
I got five hits in Google news with search terms: 'bc salmon endangered' and none of them are from 2008.
accident prone
