Cinderella man last night and a few nights before that I saw the Normal Heart, based on the play by Larry Kramer. It was an HBO movie so if anyone gets HBO on demand you can find it. It was so brutally sad and stuck with me since I've seen it. It was about a circle of friends, gay men in Manhattan and starts in 1981. It's about the very first group of men who died of AIDS. It was really hard to watch, really heartbreaking. They were watching each other get lesions all over their body and then just drop dead one day. The only official mention of it in the press was that some people died of a form of "gay cancer". The guys were trying to get someone to do something. No one would even acknowledge that their was an epidemic. It wasn't until 85 that Reagan first said the word "AIDS", let alone start some forms of treatment. It took a year of letters to the mayor and when he finally responded his only question was if there were any straight individuals who got it.. All requests for money to look into the epidemic was denied. The guys who were dying felt it was a conspiracy by the goverment to murder gays. They mentioned some shady testing in the late 70s done on a small group of gay men that dealt with the immune system. shady , scary, fucked up things.
They were giving the people chemo at the time which was just killing them faster. but watch it if you think you can. It will break your heart.
I'd really like to see Jersey Boys too. Looks great.
