About a year ago I heard about a film adaptation by HBO of the Larry Kramer play The Normal Heart. The cast list was stellar: Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Taylor Kitsch. Some of my favourite actors. Then I forgot about it because it was only going to show in America so it went off my radar.
Six months ago I saw a post about it on Facebook and tracked it down on the web. Wow. If I tried I think I'd run out of superlatives about it because it is immense. Huge.
This powerful film, based upon the life of activist, playwright and screenwriter Larry Kramer who helped to found Gay Men's Health Crisis in the '80s, covers a dark period in the history of the LGBT community when HIV and AIDS was just being recognised for the epidemic that is truly is.
The film follows Ned Weeks, an openly gay writer, who, along with a group of friends and colleagues, starts an organisation to provide information and support to the community, while challenging government over their lack of response to the crisis. Along the way he encounters Dr Emma Brookner, one of the few doctors trying to find a cure for the disease, and comes up against the fear and denial of the community while watching people he knows die of this horrific illness, including his own loving partner who he nurses to the end.
I don't mind admitting that this film made me cry. Repeatedly. It made me really think about choices I've made in my life, both positive and negative, and it made me think of my own friends and some of the risky behaviour they've engaged with. It made me think of the thousands of gay men who have died through the years because of lack of information and awareness, and of the generations of young people now who don't know enough about the dangers of HIV and the importance of safe sex.
This film should be taken for what it is: an acknowledgement of where the LGBT community has come from; of the struggle we had to get help from governments who should have done more; of how far we've come now; and as a warning. As a warning of what happens when we become complacent.
Watch the trailer below, go and see the full film and encourage others to do the same. The performances are incredible, the message is powerful and it will stay with you for days to come.
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