Fire in the Blood (2013)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fire in the Blood is a documentary film which premiered in 2013.

 

It is about the battle between the giant pharmaceutical companies and the global public health community over access to low-cost HIV-AIDS drugs to the Third World, in particular Africa.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Written and directed by Dylan Mohan Gray

** Narrated by William Hurt

** Released on DVD in 2014

** Run time: 83 minutes

 

Several persons are interviewed for the film

Here are their names of the participants

Listed in alphabetical order

 

** Zackie Achmat – a health activist

** Edwin Cameron – justice of the constitutional court, South Africa

** Bill Clinton – former president of the US

** William F. Haddad, an investigative reporter

 

** Yusuf Hamied – chairman of CIPLA

** James Love – a legal activist

** Peter Mugyenyi – a physician (Uganda)

** Donald McNeil, Jr. – a health and science reporter, New York Times

 

** Peter Rost – former executive at Pfizer

** Joseph Stiglitz – an economist, Nobel Prize

Laureate

** Desmond Tutu – an anti-apartheid activist, Nobel Prize Laureate

 

This is the story about how health activists from different countries, who worked together, were able to make sure that Third World patients suffering from HIV or AIDS had access to drugs that could help them survive at a reasonable price.

 

Not 15,000 US dollars for one year, but 350 US dollars for one year, that is less than one dollar per day.

 

One fact is mentioned several times: the giant pharmaceutical companies do not run a charity. They run a business. They are in it for the money.

 

If you have money; if you can pay, you will get help. If you cannot pay; if you have no money, you must suffer; you may even have to die. But the companies will say: this is not our problem!

 

Millions of patients – particularly in the Third World – did in fact suffer and die during the time from 1996 when the drug was available until 2003, 2004 and 2005, when a solution was found and introduced.

 

This film is dedicated to the millions of people who died during those years and to the people who were able to find a solution to the problem.

 

What do reviewers say about this film?

 

Here are some answers:

 

** 68 percent = Meta

** 77 percent = IMDb

** 88 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 90 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

 

If you ask me, the rating on Meta is too low, while the rating on Rotten Tomatoes is too high. In my opinion, the rating on IMDb is very appropriate.

 

Why?

 

Because this film is good, but not great. Because this film covers an important topic - a story that deserves to be told - but it has a flaw, which concerns the structure of the film.

 

When covering the story, the director follows a chronological line from 1996, when drugs against HIV-AIDS became available (for a very high price) until 2010, when filming was completed.

 

It is a very long line!

 

Too long!

 

The long story should have been divided into several chapters – 3 or 5 or 7 chapters – and each chapter should open with a title stating the time and the topic, so the viewers know where we are in time and what the topic of the next chapter is.

 

It is a shame this was not done.

 

When we are dealing with books, it is important that the layout is reader-friendly. A long story must be divided into chapters. And each chapter is usually divided into short sections. 

 

This rule is also true for a documentary film. It should have a structure that is viewer-friendly.

 

I like this film and I want to give it a good rating, but I have to remove one star, because it has a flaw. This film deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).

 

PS. This film has an official website where you can find more information about the topic as well as the cast and the crew.

 

REFERENCE

 

AIDS Drugs for All:

Social Movements and Market Transformations

By Ethan B. Kapstein and Joshua W. Busby

(2013)

 

*****