I found this movie to be profoundly disturbing, simply because everything in it is true. What is also disturbing is that the bureaucracy and obscene concern with politics and public image that are so frustrating to the protagonists in this story have not changed. In an interesting coincidence, earlier in the night that I saw this movie on tv, I saw a story on Dateline NBC on Don Francis, the outspoken researcher and I guess activist, due to what he runs up against. In the report, Dr Francis discussed the problems he has had getting funding from the US government to test an AIDS vaccine, despite an AIDS vaccine supposedly being the most important avenue for research. The government (according to Dr Francis) basically said that successful research on chimps and the like did not constitute enough proof of success to warrant human trials; the question that then begs to be asked is what WOULD be enough proof, if animal research is not good enough and testing cannot be done on humans? The US government has only very recently (I believe Dr Francis said he hit upon the vaccine in 1994 or so) decided to chip in some money, though only a small portion of the cost, to test the vaccine, after Dr Francis managed to raise millions of dollars himself and had begun human trials. A person wonders what will happen if- or more likely when- another horrific disease develops and starts claiming human lives.
Also, as a Canadian with poor health herself (though fortunately nothing even close to being as serious as AIDS), I find it unconscionable and difficult to understand why a country with more money than basically every country in the world does not provide health care on a socioeconomically blind basis. Never mind AIDS- there are so many treatable ailments that people come down with but can't recover from because they don't have insurance or whatever, and it makes me sick to think that people die from something we CAN fix because some big whigs in Washington are too, I don't know, greedy or ignorant or prejudiced to recognise the horror of what these people go through, or the financial burden it creates when these people do get treatment and end up sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and have their house taken away and their children's college funds drained and the like. Basically every country in the Western world provides full (for the most part) medical coverage for every one of its citizens. Maybe the US government should spend less money on missiles and more on medical treatment and research. Maybe they should focus their attention on saving lives instead of destroying them.
But enough of my little diatribe. The point is that this movie points out so many of the flaws that exist in the way the government operates. This movie was not made to be ignored or to enjoy like it's some meaningless Ace Ventura or Batman movie. This movie has a strong message that seems to have been basically pushed aside by the very people it needs to affect. I'd like to think the future will be different, but i have my doubts.
Also, as a Canadian with poor health herself (though fortunately nothing even close to being as serious as AIDS), I find it unconscionable and difficult to understand why a country with more money than basically every country in the world does not provide health care on a socioeconomically blind basis. Never mind AIDS- there are so many treatable ailments that people come down with but can't recover from because they don't have insurance or whatever, and it makes me sick to think that people die from something we CAN fix because some big whigs in Washington are too, I don't know, greedy or ignorant or prejudiced to recognise the horror of what these people go through, or the financial burden it creates when these people do get treatment and end up sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and have their house taken away and their children's college funds drained and the like. Basically every country in the Western world provides full (for the most part) medical coverage for every one of its citizens. Maybe the US government should spend less money on missiles and more on medical treatment and research. Maybe they should focus their attention on saving lives instead of destroying them.
But enough of my little diatribe. The point is that this movie points out so many of the flaws that exist in the way the government operates. This movie was not made to be ignored or to enjoy like it's some meaningless Ace Ventura or Batman movie. This movie has a strong message that seems to have been basically pushed aside by the very people it needs to affect. I'd like to think the future will be different, but i have my doubts.