I have spent this week watching movies for my HIV class and taking in all the information from the movies I have watched. So far I've watched Age of Aids, Common Threads, and Silverlake Life. Common Threads is a documentary about a quilt that was put together by the families of AIDS victims. In this movie, there are several different families that get the opportunity to tell their story of theri lost loved one. There are stories about a hemophiliac young boy, a couple who got married and the husband was a drug abuser, a homosexual couple (consisting of a gay male and lesbian female who decide to have a baby together), and two homosexual couples. This movie worked inside of me in a special way. As I watched these people tell their stories of love, strength, AIDS, and the lost of loved ones, I started to feel how some of these people must have felt. I immediately tried to put myself in their shoes and I began to feel pain. I felt pain for the victim and for the victim's families. The story of the young hemophiliac boy broke my heart and I found tears rolling down my face from that point on.
Silverlake Life is another heart wrenching movie that captures the life of a gay couple that find out they are HIV positive. From that moment on, they begin to make a documentary following their life and the progression of the disease. To be honest, this movie didn't capture my attention the way Common Threads did at first, but as the movie went on, I started to feel as if I was getting to know the couple and my heart started to soften and fall. By the time the movie was over, again I found myself crying.
The more assignments that I complete in this class, the more I feel I am beginning to really understand HIV and what it does not only to the people that it infects, but to all the people who are involved in their lives. I think I have said this before in one of my blogs, but HIV truly does destroy the body. It is so sad to see people go through this (not personally for me, but to see the people in those movies suffering). In Common Threads, one of the people mke the comment that one day this will go away and all that will be left is the memory of AIDS and how it destroyed America. I am frightened that it might not happen that way. AIDS is too dangerous and virulent a virus to just go away. Its not like an influneza virus that becomes virulent and destroys everything in its path until it can no longer find a succeptibl host (like the Influenza of 1918 that just went away when there was no one left to destroy). This virus kills, infects, and destroys all alike. It does not matter age, race, or religion. I don't believe the HIV virus is going anywhere anytime soon.
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Cathia, I felt the same way about Common Threads! I was so touched by the stories told from the people that have lost their loved one from AIDS. I was really moved by a lot of their stories. Something that really shocked me was the size of the Quilts. I couldn't believe they were the same size as a standard grave. What I really learned from that movie was that they are just people, they are a mother, father, brother, sister, husband, or wife. The movie was eye opening to the pain families go through going through the stigma and discrimination that goes along with AIDS. Great insight.
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ReplyDeleteI saw Age of AIDS too, and at first I was skeptical. I thought how interesting could a documentary type movie be, but it really caught my attention. I learned so much from it too and it had both really scientific fact and emotional connections because of the first hand accounts of things people experienced. It put a face on it for me. I thought your post was very insightful, people really are people. And they are loved ones to someone, and that's the universal thing about this situation is that we should share a common love and concern. Great post!
ReplyDeleteIt's scary, but I don't think HIV is going anywhere anytime soon as well. A huge part of this is due to lack of education about the topic. Some people do not are and are not protecting themselves.
ReplyDeleteI loved all of the movies that I watched. Common Threads really touched me, because it showed people from totally different walks of life all being affected by the same disease. David really touched me the most. Silverlake life was really good as well. Tom and Mark were in love and the end to their story was fatal. Words cannot express how I felt at the end of the movie.
I, too, was extremely moved by the little boy’s story from the Quilt. It seemed so unfair that his family happened to be hit with another misfortune. As if it wasn't bad enough that he was a hemophiliac, but then had to receive a transfusion rendered from HIV+ blood. It was so sad to watch him grow to the age of 12, losing his hair, and ultimately dying, leaving his two parents. To me, this type of situation is getting AIDS indirectly. It's not like this young boy is sexually active or sharing needles with drug users. He just had a medical problem, and turned out to be very unlucky. I suppose that is what is so sad about his situation.
ReplyDeleteAfter wathing these movies this week I feel they also added a personal touch to HIV. With the movie Silverlake life you could help be feel like you knew these two men. As the film goes on its as if get a great sense of them as people. It was hard to watch Tom's progression in the movie and it was "heart wrenching." In contrast though I did feel more from Silverlake Life than Common Threads becuase you got to essentially be a part of their lives. Thank you for your insight.
ReplyDeleteEach movie in this class has a special story to tell. Some tell you the origins of HIV in this country and how we reacted to it. Some tell you personal stories and some tell you what we can expect in the future. Although I love Common Threads my favorite is And The Band Played On. I met the author of the book in San Francisco when I was there for an international AIDS conference. The book is 628 pages long but so worth the read. He did a great job of painting a picture of this country's neglect.
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