How to Survive a Plague

I'm not anxious to see this. Just reading your description makes me feel "fragile."

It was one of the best documentaries about the fight against AIDS that I've seen.

I am in awe of the people portrayed. Truly inspiring.

More grief porn? No thanks.

Getting good notices on Rotten Tomatoes.

How to Survive a Plague. It's a film about what will happen if romney is elected

I liked it better when it was called "Contagion", and I was in it.

After an emotional week (confirmed that Sandy had totalled my car, couldn't schedule my next ear surgery until January so I'll have to meet my deductible again, bombed a test), I sat down and watched the movie onDemand. Probably not the best idea, but I had just finished the first draft of my senior thesis which is about AIDS meds.

It was devastating and wonderful at the same time. It gave me a new appreciation for Larry Kramer, who I've always kind of thought of a schoolmarm looking for excuses to be pissed off. It was surreal seeing the clips of Peter Staley on CNN's Crossfire and having PAT BUCHANAN of all people being the one making sense (even if it was for the wrong reasons). I hope hell is hot enough for Jesse Helms. And I think I admire the living hell out of Ann Northrup.

I know I'm a sucker for stories like this (one of my favorite books is a scholarly text about the Mississippi Summer Project), but I found it profoundly moving and uplifting. And I'll probably end up using some of the information about the black market for AIDS meds when I present my thesis in a few weeks.

We survived it by hiding in mom's basement.

Go fuck yourself, R8.

I saw this at Outfest this year and have to say that it's impact has stayed with me.

What surprised me most, however, is that this ISN'T "grief porn." It's actually quite rousing and inspiring and shows how a community can come together and bring about actual change.

At the screening, we were very lucky to have the director and Peter Staley speak. The applause in that theater was thunderous and prolonged.

I highly recommend everyone see this film. It's one of the best docs of the year and deserves at least an Oscar nomination. Please don't let your fear get in the way of seeing it. It will surprise you.

Saw it recently and was coveting the past somewhat. There was no spraying mace and tasers used in the early 90s. They were more determined than the occupy movement seemingly....

The one commentator in the documentary seemed to be "all about me" ... you know which one I mean. Somehow the AIDS epidemic centered around his inability to find love and romance in 70s SF. Not surprisngly, he ends up with a much younger "partner" at the end of the film - all of which he attributes to his newfound appreciation of life ... gag.

Jesse Helms was such a vile piece of shit. Like VOTN said, I hope he's roasting right now.

Get AIDS and die r9.

Eldergays such as yourself do not speak for our generation.

It is now on Netflix and finally got to watch it tonight. Everyone on this board should do themselves a favor and watch it.

Well R14, if you're the one speaking for your generation, I feel sorry for all of you.

Actually some of them are still hiding in marriages, the closet, the company, the law firm.

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Another movie that celebrates victimization of one's situation. Instead of actually DOING something about it, you all just whined and complained.

It was only after PRIVATE research got involved and solved the problem, all the gays did was demand that the government support them. But as usual it was the private sector that found the solution.

I'm as sympathetic as the next guy, but you're talking about a disease that is and was 100% preventable.

R19, you are an idiot.

Truly.

I guess at this point I'm an eldergay.

I am part of a community of gays that was outraged by the governments seemly insensitive treatment of us when we were in need.

That community created groups like GMHC and Actup and dedicated ourselves to demanding that we be treated humanly.

And then on the weekends we infected each other. It too bad we didn't demand humane treatment from each other.

Interesting r21 but watch out for the torches that are going to come after you.

R19, the "private sector" had had the solution for decades before HIV hit the scene but didn't reveal it until years after, after the government guaranteed their profits.

Question for those that have seen this: Would you recommend watching it in a theater or waiting for the DVD? It's playing nearby this week so I could see it now, while I'd have to wait until next month for the DVD. But I sometimes get weepy in movies and I'm not sure I want to watch this with a crowd.

r24 you can watch it on Amazon instant.

I wish I could. I can't get Amazon Instant to work on my computer. I suppose I could try badgering customer support again, but I'd rather save myself the headache.

[quote]I'm not anxious to see this. Just reading your description makes me feel "fragile."

I know, but your life may change, after viewing it.

Just watched it on Amazon Instant video . Great film.

Of all the gay rights/AIDS documentaries I've seen, How to Survive a Plague is the least compelling. I did not like the doc at all.

I wonder what would happen if protests like ACT UP did in the 80s happened in NYC today? So much has changed with the way the city and the NYPD operate - I wonder if the protests would all be shut down before they even started and it would just be massive skull-cracking by the NYPD. 'Quality of Life' laws, you know. I cannot see St. Patrick's Cathedral being stormed by protesters, or a mass of protesters carrying a corpse in a coffin to the front steps of Republican Headquarters in today's NYC.

It was...okay. Kind of manipulative and disingenuous (as well as 15 years too late).

CUNTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I found this and the amazing Sugar Man (just a touch better) to be better than any of the Best Picture nominees.

I think there's a rule about docos not being eligible for best picture, unlike foreign language since Michael Moore tried to get 9/11 in the main category. Shame.

Interested in seeing it. Is Amazon Instant the streaming service that comes with Prime?

Yes, though you don't get free streaming if you're doing the six month (or however long) free trial for Amazon Prime. As soon as you start paying, though, it's part of the package.

This also came out on DVD a couple of days ago.

Odd how the guy says 1993-1995 were the worst years "most terrifying". I'd have thought the earlier years were worse.

Do you think Act Up really deserves as much credit as Larry Kramer says it does at the end?

I was there. Fought the battle in the streets, in the research lab, and in my own bedroom. Have posted too many times on this subject.

This movie was a bit masturbatory for the NYC Act Up pre-hipster crowd but it is an extremely important, even if not completely accurate record about our shared history. Anita Bryant and Jesse helms are easy targets who have already been thoroughly documented for their evilness.

Act Up! should not have taken so much credit for the scientific advancement of HIV science and treatments. Sometimes their outrageous tactics prevented us from doing our work. You don't get a bunch of rich, suburban white chicks to wear the cool T-shirts ("Silence=Death"), block traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge, and say "WE are dying". THEY were not dying. Some Act Up! participants may have been well-intentioned, but many were simply self-serving and seeking cheap, hip, urban entertainment.

The most significant and truthful point from this film to be taken is something that Malcom X said about human rights. Am too stupid to remember his exact words, but it went something like this: "Don't ask for equal rights; take them. By any means necessary". But I'm very uncomfortable with non-scientists taking credit for the advancement of modern medicine. Ignorance breeds Scientology, herbal remedies, and Tarot card readings. None of those things can stop a virus that exists to reproduce itself in our T-cells.

The ignorant conspiratory theorists who insist that the CIA or Big Pharma invented AIDS are nearly as harmful to our cause as are those who follow Rush Limbaugh and/or are anti-evolution types. Speaking from experience, Big Pharma is far too stupid and bumbling to have created such a profitable market. Their profits are obscene and they are run by Repugs. They got their game on well after that "market niche" was established.

Finally, as nasty and bitter as r21's comment seems, he speaks the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts. It takes intelligence or just hard experience to understand that several seemingly contradictory processes can occur at the same time.

How did R19 become so miseducated on the history of HIV in America?

For those who want to understand how people, science, and medicine confronted the AIDS epidemic, watch "We Were Here" and the link below.

I am deeply connected to both films, post on the DL about this topic often, but do not wish to reveal myself here.

It is important to understand that AIDS profoundly fueled the entire biotechnology field, in terms of biomedical research and pharmaceutical industry growth. We now have many research tools and drugs to treat MS, some cancers, and diabetes, among others, thanks to AIDS. I do not support this circumstance; I'm just telling you what happened in history.

For me, it's been a rather ugly journey to have done. Am still a player in the medical arena. Wouldn't be here to tell about it without heavy psych meds.

Hope VOTN sees my posts.

I hope that r19 dies a horrible, painful death as soon as possible.

You lie, freeper. It was very public, government-funded research that led to anti-viral drugs for HIV and most other diseases. Furthermore, that funding continues to fuel the advancement of work that supports the success of the entire "private" pharmaceutical/drug industry.

Your poorly thought thesis ignores the fact that the US government sponsored research which created our modern military, jet airplanes, clean water, medical technology, computers and the internet, among too many other things that you are too ignorant to acknowledge or deserve to benefit from.

As you die in a grease fire at your unregulated, private sector Texas chemical plant, no one will hear your screams because you refused to pay taxes to support public safety.

I get that you are in favor of personal and corporate greed. You will never get that sometimes giving to others comes back to benefit your own fat ass.

It was the 80's...remember how little Ronnie Reagan funded Star Wars....so that we could blow up the missiles before they hit us and cover the US in a protective domb?

Jeesh! what an idiot he was.

R19 has a point in that government probably created HIV, and Gallo certainly tried to slow its identification.

But private companies didn't do squat. Burroughs Wellcome had found AZT in 1964 but they didn't use it against AIDS until....they were guaranteed pirate's profits for it.

I finally saw this. Wow. I was blown away by it. It made me so proud of our community. In the 80's I was living in Upstate NY, scared to death about being gay and trying to figure out how to deal with it and then the AIDs crisis drove me even further into the closet. In the end Act Up brought a ton of attention to the crisis, that was the goal and that brought change. I am completely in awe of them.

[quote]I'm as sympathetic as the next guy

No, R19, you are anything but as sympathetic as the next guy.

R44, exactly right. The same type who says "I'm as liberal as they come, but..." before launching into some right-wing screed.

Peter Staley was smoking hot.

that guy with the severe facial wasting, omg. what did that? the disease or the old AIDS medications?

R13, Helms was one of the worse people to ever live.

When he died, a bunch of Rethugs ran around, extolling his virtues.

The man was a homophobe and a racist. The fact that worked against people who were suffering and dying blows my mind. I lost my best childhood friend in the early nineties to AIDS. I moved in with him during the last three years of his life because his boyfriend had died, and his family, who were a bunch of fucked up, Fundie Christians, refused to help him. I had two girlfriends who were nurses, and they taught me how to take care of him.

I gave him his shots, I would rub his feet and legs everyday, and when his eye sight went, I bathed him, fed him, did his hair, drove him to all of his appointments.

After he died, I was just numb for the first few months. His piece of shit brother who was NEVER around, and who I also knew since childhood, showed up right away to ransack the place and take all of the furniture and art work. He even had the nerve to ask me if his brother had any cash hidden away in the house, and asked if he had vomitted on any of the furniture, because if he had, he wouldn't be taking it. God, it was awful.

I'm sorry for this rant. I started watching the documentary last night before I went to bed, and it brought back a lot of memories.

I'm going to finish watching it now.

wow, reply 48, that's horrible. i am really very sorry that you experienced that. when you talked about your friend being gone, i swear i was able to put myself into your shoes. my aunt died of AIDS in 1986, at 21. she got it from her boyfriend that she met in church when she was 17. he died in 2007. it was so sad when she died because she was the brains in the family. she had a baby by 16, and at 16, she got accepted into university of riverside. she moved from los angeles at 16 to live on the campus housing with her baby daughter. how she had the bravery to move as a child with a child at such a young age, i have always admired. she was to graduate in may 1987 from UCR, but she died december 18, 1986. she was so young and sooo smart all of us kids were inspired by her being african american, that she didnt have to default to community college because of low GPA, she went to the university. she was the first in our family to show us that getting an education was the only thing to do. yes, she had a child very young, but she continued on with her dreams. it was just so tragic how she was here one day living an inspirational life, and started dwindling down in size in that last year, and was just suddenly gone. i really miss my aunt. thank you so much for taking me back to such a poignant time in my teenage life.

Excellent documentary. Being in NYC in the late 80's-early 90's, I actually knew some of those guys.

oh yeah i forgot to comment on the documentary. it was really excellent. i really enjoyed seeing the story of the once married man with the little daughter who eventually lost his battle to the disease. i liked knowing who made it, and who was lost, and the documentary shared that information along the way. i would like to know though, for those who made it through who did developed AIDS, how is life (physically and mentally) on the newer AIDS medication and all the secondary chronic deadly diseases? im not sure if i asked the question with enough care. thank you

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"im not sure if i asked the question with enough care."

Or any punctuation? You're not e.e. cummings, dear. Form a complete sentence for once in your millennial life.

lol, thank you, im just lazy, but i will in my future post.

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