A documentary-opera about two men who take AIDS activism very personally. Canadian Tim McCaskell and South African Zackie Ahmet lead different, yet parallel lives. Tim's fight against major pharmaceutical companies that value profits over human lives leads him to create Aids Action Now in the late '80s. Fed up with the lack of government support for AIDS treatments in South Africa, Zackie goes on a treatment strike in 1999. The story is shaped by Gertrude Stein's 1934 avant-garde opera Four Saints in Three Acts. The documentary cuts between a fictional tale of Stein kidnapping Tim and Zackie to play the saints in her opera, and real-life footage and interviews about the AIDS epidemic. So much gets touched upon — the musical scale, palindromes, saints, a singing albino squirrel, the lack of governmental support, the top 100 AIDS songs, the suggestion that beetroot and garlic are appropriate AIDS treatments by South AfricaÕs Minister of Health — that the viewer can be forgiven for feeling confused. The film is visually stunning, its black and white footage of interviews with Tim and Zackie contrasting with dreamlike sequences. Like the storyline, however, the visuals can at times be choppy and unclear. This is a film that you'll either love, hate or not understand at all. And because of how important the subject matter is — at the core it's about fighting AIDS — it's disappointing that the message may get lost in the noise.
More reviews at the Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival page.
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2009.