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Film Review: How To Survive A Plague

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et’s make one thing clear: “This isn’t a movie about what AIDS did to us, this is a movie about what we did to AIDS.” This bold statement from David France, director of How to Survive a Plague, is indicative of the theme of empowerment which runs through the film, which showed at the Melbourne International Film Festival hot off the heels of the 19th International AIDS Conference. This Conference was fittingly held in Washington DC, the same stage where the AIDS warriors depicted in the film take on the government and medical establishment.

The film follows two activist groups, ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and its offshoot TAG (Treatment Action Group), as they protest/lobby against existing treatment methods for AIDS, both social and pharmaceutical, and research/innovate new solutions. This pioneering work eventually turned the once always-fatal disease into a manageable chronic condition. Using over 700 hours of archival footage, How to Survive a Plague creates a timeline of AIDS and activism over a decade, from diagnosis in the mid 80s to the protease inhibitor revolution of early 90s.

The telling of this activist story is vital. ACT UP fought for nine years, demanding changes in research, drug development and treatment approaches which ultimately turned HIV/AIDS from a death sentence into a treatable condition. In doing so they had a massive and lasting effect on the medical research field and subsequently inspired a future of protesters (think Occupy Wall street).

Cheryl Overs, a senior Research Fellow and once upon a time ACT UP demonstrator, says ACT UP and TAG “Revolutionized patient-doctor relationships, questioned the US medical system, big pharma and international trade law; drove the rewriting of drug trial protocols and introduced the notion of prevention and care services being led by affected communities.” The film recognises the extraordinary achievement of these activists as what it was – one of the most successful public initiatives in American history.

HIV and the camcorder are about the same age, having both came to the market about 30 years ago. How to Survive a Plague shows what our generation never saw – the fight. People fighting for what they believe in, people fighting self-hatred and exhaustion, and quite literally, people fighting for their lives.

The film drops audiences into the middle of this war zone, amid controversial protests and fiery basement meetings. Its credibility is enhanced by the fact that the cinematic chronology doesn’t brush over the darker side of activism, such as the extreme New York protests on Wall Street and at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The ever-rising political tensions as well as the internal disagreements withinbetween the AIDS coalitions give a distinctly human face to the struggle. The shattering failures of the activists, resulting in more loss of life, and the triumphant victories achieved in spite of this, are ruthlessly played out in equal measure.

Director David France is a journalist who has reported on the AIDS since day dot. Like the AIDS activists who took it upon themselves to find a cure despite not having scientific backgrounds, France committed himself to telling the story of their efforts although he had never before made a feature film. How to Survive a Plague, in the style of all good social justice documentaries, concludes with a call to action. The theme for this year’s World AIDS Day, “HIV is still here,” is imbued with France’s message that the fight must continue. In true Cinéma vérité fashion, the film is as much as about the fighters behind the AIDS activism as it is about the fight itself; as much about the strength of standing united, as it is the remarkable strength of a single human spirit.

Today, while it may seem that the ‘West’ is cured, in the US nearly half of the 1.1 million people living with HIV are not on treatment. AIDS remains the most stigmatized disease in human history. “The Global South and the US ethnic minorities, indigenous people, sex workers, drug users and women,” says Cheryl Overs, “ have not benefited from antiretroviral drug treatment and other responses to the same extent as gay communities in rich countries for whom the consequences of HIV have been significantly (but not entirely) alleviated.” This also reflects Cheryl’s fear for the film: that it would be simply, “A profound snapshot of the experience of white privileged men.” It isn’t, but only just.

Dr. Jennifer Power of La Trobe University, whose PhD looked at community responses to HIV/AIDS in Australia, points out that How to Survive a Plague does what other AIDS documentaries do not; “It explores the impact of AIDS activism more generally and actually asks how different things might have been if community activism had not been part of the AIDS response.”

The film is a timely reminder of just how far we’ve come but, more importantly, how far we’ve got to go in the battle against AIDS. 28 million people globally still cannot afford treatment. How to Survive a Plague is a must see for all but especially for those of us lucky enough to grow up in world where AIDS is no longer a death sentence – we are beholden to those who did not survive the plague.

How to Survive a Plague screened at the 2012 Melbourne International Film Festival and will open in cinemas late September. 

Lot's Wife Editors

The author Lot's Wife Editors

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