PANACEA 2020

And the Band Played On (1993)
We just had to have a movie about the AIDS
epidemic, the greatest medical crisis since
the ‘Spanish ‘flu’. You could not have
invented the plot; an epidemic starts among
derided minority groups (gays and I.V. drug
users), then spills over into other sections
of society while it is also ravaging the
developing world. This all happens to the
background of emerging gay activism.
‘And the Band Played On’ was made as a
television docudrama and plays out like a
thriller. Researchers, doctors, bureaucrats,
politicians, AIDS victims; and many don't
come out smelling like roses.
Directed by Roger Spottiswoode. Teleplay by
Arnold Schulman. It is based on the 1987
bestselling non-fiction book by Randy
Shilts, a reporter on the San Francisco
Chronicle at the time of the epidemic. Randy
was diagnosed with HIV shortly after
completing the book and succumbed to the
complications of AIDS in 1994. It was a
monstrous book, packed with research that
attempted to encompass the many strands of
the unfolding of the epidemic in the U.S.
The fact that most of the activism and
research was in the U.S. is an explanation
and solace for its North American centrism.
Making the book into a movie was always going to be a tall order. It has been criticised for its
irregular pace and occasional disjointed plot, not helped by the sudden appearance of famous actors in
supporting roles. To critics of its chaotic approach to the epidemic, I feel comes the old refrain; 'You
had to be there!'. The main role goes to Matthew Modine, playing an epidemiologist, Don Francis. A good
performance but the writers gave him little in the way of character development. The familiar faces
include: Ian McKeller, Alan Alda, Lilly Tomlin, Phil Collins, Steve Martin, Angelica Huston and Richard
Gere who all apparently only collected actors’ union rates. Gere was supposedly the first to join the
project, an act which encouraged some of the others. Still, it garnered 3 Emmys. Rotten Tomatoes gave it
100% and an 88% audience rating. IMDb gave it 7.8/10.
The AIDS epidemic not only stretched health services in research, epidemiology, infection control,
manpower and finances; it also stressed the system morally and ethically and strengthened it in the long
term. It has messages for the medical profession, not only in the management of pandemics but also in the
profession's involvement with minority groups.
The power of this telemovie about the AIDS epidemic, I feel, is summed up by an anonymous on-line
reviewer who said: '......- it isn't a quick-fix wallow or a time-filler....it is a serious, frustrating,
angry movie with no easy answers. And that is as it should be.'
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