And the Band Played On

Memory Served: Sometime between 1995 and 1999, Las Pinas

The other side of dramatic presentation of HIV and AIDS in the 90s was anger. And for me at the time none was angrier than the big screen adaptation of And the Band Played On, based on true events with a familiar story arc of humans destroying humanity (or, tayo ang may dala ng sarili nating sumpa).

Here's one of the most remembered scenes from the movie, and I got the actual lines of Dr. Don Francis, played by Matthew Modine, from Quotes.net:

How many people have to die before it'll be cost effective for you people to do something about it? A hundred? A thousand? Give us a number so we won't annoy you until the amount of money you start losing on LAWSUITS makes it PROFITABLE for you to save people than to kill them!

When I saw this in a second-run movie house a few blocks from home, I was a mixed bag of anger, sadness and excitement. The excitement due to the stellar cast -- so many Hollywood A-listers in one movie (sulit ang 20 pesos na pang-sine).

(This rated 100% on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer)

Third Sunday of May the world observes the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial.