Essay Example on the Battle Against AIDS: David France's 2012 Documentary

That is an incisive, heartfelt documentary about people doing well that is important when pushed to the limit. That is American filmmaking that shows warts and heroism produced in 2012, illustrating the early years of AIDS pandemic and the activist groups' efforts. David France, in his dedication to his partner Doug Gould who had died of ADS- related pneumonia directed it. The journalist, David France, being his first film, covered AIDS from its beginning. The documentary was spearheaded by a group of AIDS activists and the founders of AIDS group ACT UP and TAG, their struggle for US Government response and establishments of effective HIV/AIDS medication.

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This film tells the story of how militant activists like ACT-UP and TAG pushed for a meaningful response to the AIDS health problem. That was amidst the struggle against political indifferences, cooperate greed, religious hostility, and skewed scientific research priorities. Owing to their sheer audacity and determination, the activists produced a political wave for an effective treatment regime. The documentary included interviews with physicians, HIV activists, underground organization members, meetings, protest clips, and news coverage in the 1980s and 1990s. The activists championed the FDA'A approval for the drugs that could slow down or stop the AIDS virus.

Moreover, they also advocated for life-saving treatments to be made available and drug trials which took 7-10 years to be shortened. The film also documents how people relied on imported drugs to slow down HIV, contrary to FDA's approval. France demonstrates ACT UP's rhetorical strategies and demonstrations, typified by their consummately articulate and well-organized head instigators. They also used public displays like die -INS outside City Hall in Manhattan and even putting on a giant condom over Jesse Helm's home

During this time, the only available drug to slow down the HIV was AZT that was toxic to people living with AIDS and some even caused blindness. Due to the expensive nature of the drugs, the activists lobbied for the creation of the International Aids Conference that enhanced the production of DDI drugs as an alternative for AZT drugs. The activists also protested the immigration policies that banned HIV positive victims from immigrating to the US as discriminatory and homophobic. When the existing drugs seemed ineffective, the activists advocated for more research on the virus. By 1996, there was the release of the protease inhibitors, a combination of drugs that lower the HIV viral load on patients than any medication before. That was considered a breakthrough for HIV and AIDS research and continues to be used for its treatment.

David France amassed an epic amount of material from the desperate days of AIDS activism. He sifted through 700 hours of footage, and he recorded nearly 100 hours of original interviews with prominent activists, many of whom wept as they told their stories of survival...Despite the overwhelming tragedy of the AIDS era "since recognition of the virus in the early 1980s, HIV has taken the lives of tens of millions" said France. While the documentary chronicles the wages of bigotry and neglect, it vividly chronicles the extent to which the society can budge when the people exhorting it are united, determined, intelligent and right. The fight in us eclipses the sloth and surrender, and the good does outweigh the bad. That is a takeaway of 'How to Survive a Plague,' and consequently a takeaway of AIDS crisis.

Work Cited

France, David.Documentary "How to Survive a Plague".Sept. 2012. Retrieved fromhttps://www.nytimes.com.