And the Band Played On
by Roger Spottiswoode
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Actor: Alan Alda, Christian Clemenson, Matthew Modine, Nathalie Baye, Patrick BauchauDirector: Roger Spottiswoode
Brand: HBO Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 141 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-06-05
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 90962
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Closed-captioned; Color; DVD; Full Screen; HiFi Sound; NTSC
DVD Reviews of And the Band Played On
DVD Review: Superb account of the AIDS crisis 1977-1993
Summary: 4 Stars
AND THE BAND PLAYED ON
(USA - 1993)
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
TV soundtrack: Dolby Stereo
Whilst Hollywood was busy congratulating itself for the critical and commercial success of PHILADELPHIA (1993) - an awkward, uncomfortable drama which undermined its own sincerity for the sake of mainstream acceptance - HBO debuted Roger Spottiswoode's AND THE BAND PLAYED ON, an adptation of the late Randy Shilts' hotly debated chronicle of the AIDS crisis in America. Itself the subject of considerable controversy, the film took several years to develop and was eventually taken out of Spottiswoode's hands during the editing process, to be completed by Bill Couturie (co-producer of the Oscar-winning documentary COMMON THREADS: STORIES FROM THE QUILT [1989]), who's credited as an editorial 'consultant' in the closing titles. Not merely a 'gay' drama, the film has broad-based appeal, both as a narrative and as an invaluable history lesson.
From the first case diagnosed in Copenhagen in 1977 to the US death toll in July 1993, Arnold Schulman's script follows the heroic efforts of virologist Don Francis (Matthew Modine at his most earnest) to uncover the source of an unknown 'plague' which is killing gay men, hemophiliacs and intravenous drug users across America. Unfortunately, as the unfolding drama reminds us in no uncertain terms, the crisis coincided with Reagan's election to the presidency, establishing a right-wing administration which refused even to publicly acknowledge the problem until it began to spread beyond the gay community and affect 'ordinary' voters.
Like the book on which it's based, the film vents its spleen on those who turned a blind eye to the escalating tragedy until it was too late, especially the blood bank industry which ignored repeated scientific warnings about possible contamination of the blood supply until lawsuits from people who became infected during transfusions forced them into action, and the gay community which railed against the proposed closure of bath houses in major cities as an infringement of their hard-earned sexual freedoms. Scientific divisions simply exacerbated the problem: Alan Alda portrays the eminent scientist Robert Gallo as an insensitive, vainglorious bully who was prepared to sacrifice lives whilst pursuing credit for discovering how the virus worked, an accolade which actually belonged to a number of extremely diligent French scientists! The film is careful to acknowledge Gallo's hard work in this field, but as depicted here, his arrogance leaves a rotten taste in the mouth.
With Modine's eminently sympathetic scientist-figure acting as the primary focus, the fast-moving screenplay conveys a wealth of information with remarkable clarity, keeping the viewer fully informed throughout. Paradoxically, if it wasn't for the all-star cast (including Richard Gere, Lily Tomlin, Ian McKellen, Phil Collins, etc.), the film might not have been made at all, but their contributions - often fleeting - are sometimes distracting rather than illuminating ("Oh look, there's Anjelica Huston, Steve Martin!", etc.), though the performances are uniformly strong, particularly since there's no time to sketch these characters in anything but the most basic terms. Evidence of production troubles is non-existent, and the film ends on an emotional highpoint with documentary footage of celebrities and individuals whose lives have been touched by AIDS, set to Elton John's 'The Last Song'.
If nothing else, AIDS forced society to confront its two greatest taboos, sex and death, and it also exposed a raft of prejudices which had been festering for decades. Galvanized by its sense of loss, and appalled by the state-sanctioned bigotry which prevented adequate funding of research and treatment while the US government allowed its defence budget to spiral into the stratosphere, the gay community finally shook off its complacency and launched a prolonged militant campaign which eventually forced the issue into the public arena. The film provokes anger and sadness in equal measure as it outlines the circumstances which incited the virus to epidemic proportions, and the inevitable devastation which followed.
But every so often, the story makes way for something more profound than mere anger, and reduces the viewer to heartbroken silence: A young man, once beautiful, waits alone for death in a room at the V.A. hosital in Los Angeles, slowly succumbing to the lesions which are beginning to destroy his brain. As the scene concludes, he turns toward a window overlooking an enormous cemetery featuring row upon row of gleaming-white gravestones which stretch to the horizon, an image that links the fallen victims of a bygone conflict to those of the present generation, dying in their thousands as a helpless world looks on.
Incidentally, the film's R rating seems unusually harsh, unless the MPAA was concerned about some brief dialogue references to certain sexual practices; otherwise, there's nothing here which warrants anything more than a PG-13.
Description of And the Band Played On
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