Rating: 
Summary: PHENOMENAL & MOVING
Review: In 1978, the first cases of a mysterious viral pneumonia began appearing, and people started dying. No reasonable cause of death could be found. By 1980, gay men in the United States started dying of pneumonia and skin cancer, and a trend started to emerge. No one wanted to fund research to save a few gay bathhouse patrons, and the CDC was forced to investigate the disease with a skeleton crew, minimal funding, and quietly. Their hard work uncovered the possibility that this was a sexually transmitted disease, but no one wanted to close the bathhouses. They discovered it was transmitted through the blood supply as well, but no one wanted to spend the money to screen blood. Ronald Reagan was still refusing to acknowledge the disease publicly, and no one wanted to believe that AIDS was a problem. It wasn't until women and children started dying that the public finally started to take notice, and notice they did. Less than 10 years after the first cases were isolated in the United States, over a million would be afflicted with the disease. This is the story of those first years, from the first stunning revelation that there was a common link to those early cases to the isolation of the virus and the development of a screening test for it. It's about the politicians that didn't want to risk political suicide by getting involved with a "gay" disease, about the doctors and health professionals who worked night and day for years to find the cause, and most importantly it's about the people who's lives were cut short by this killer. What might sound dry and plotless in print is actually an engrossing, fascinating, emotional movie. The entire story moves along well, and never seems to drag too long at any point. What could have been a confusing film is made very easy for the layperson to understand. It doesn't pull any punches, and few people will walk away without feeling some sense of rage at how many lives were needlessly taken away in their prime because of ignorance, red tape, prejudice and money. The cast in this movie is out of this world, and there's not a single weak performance in the bunch. It's one of those movies where, each time a new character comes onscreen, you say "Hey, that's so-and-so!". Matthew Modine plays a CDC doctor who wears his heart on his sleeve, part of the CDC team that searched inexhaustibly for the contagious factor in AIDS, or as it was called at the time, GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency). Other members of the team include Richard Masur and Glenne Headley, who spend their own money to fly all over the country, interviewing victims and trying to trace the causes of the disease. Sir Ian McKellan gives an expectedly stirring performance, as a gay man who spends years battling beaurocratic red tape to get politicians to fund AIDS research, only to find out that he himself has the disease. B.D. Wong is great as his long-time companion and best friend. Lily Tomlin is one of the highlights of the movie, as a back-breaking, shut-up-and-get-it-done-now type. Steve Martin gives one of his stronger performances as the brother of a high-society closet homosexual. Richard Gere, who is sort of hit-and-miss in his movie roles, is moving and believeable as a Broadway choreographer afflicted with AIDS. Alan Alda is an absolute treat, playing the self-important Dr. Callo, the American doctor who tried to claim sole discovery of the virus that causes AIDS as well as the test to detect it. Part of the movie revolves around his refusal to acknowledge or work with the French scientists who truly did discover the virus, and the urge to run up to the TV and slap Alan Alda is almost irresistable! There are at least 20 more actors and actresses in this movie that you'll recognize instantly, it's that great of a cast. I can't say enough about this DVD! I originally saw it back in the 90s, when it first aired on HBO, and it stuck with me through all of these years. I finally found it here on Amazon on DVD, and just watched it: I was afraid that I might have been remembering it as better than it was, but it didn't disappoint me in the least! This film will keep you on the edge of your seat, staring at the screen in rage, sadness and awe from beginning to end.
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