AND THE BAND PLAYED ON (1993)
by Del Harvey
This is the must-see story of the early days of the AIDS virus and the key individuals who led the battle against "death by red tape."
ever known anyone with AIDS, or lost someone to this terrible disease, then
you will probably share my feelings that this film was long overdue and
very important.
This may also be the finest performance of Matthew Modine's career. Personally, he is not an actor I prefer watching. But in this film he creates a very human, very accessible character. As a young doctor who has fought against incredibly horrible diseases in some of the remotest areas of the world, he paints the perfect portrait of a researcher for the Centers of Disease Control who is tilting at windmills in the earliest days of the battle against AIDS. The obstacles a government agency faces in obtaining funding and resources for simple day-to-day operations are minor compared to those required to deal with the sudden outbreak of a killer virus, especially on a national level.
The film shifts between the efforts of
the CDC's research staff and a few pivotal individuals in San Francisco,
most notably Lily Tomlin and Ian McKellen. Initially, Charles Martin Smith
is the connection between these 
two
elements, as the CDC representative sent to San Francisco to investigate
the outbreak in this major domestic city. He soon proves Tomlin's greatest
ally and facilitator within the government, and she proves his greatest
asset within the community. A rift develops within the community as the
CDC pushes to close down the bathhouses, which is seen by many gay men
in the film as a symbol of their sexual freedom. The community is typically
divided between those who wish to give up their sexual independence and
attendant identity, and those who recognize the threat to their health.
The film also follows, briefly, attempts by other CDC researchers as they
travel the country gathering evidence of a virus in hopes of finding a
solution through knowledge of their common enemy.
At some point the "enemy" seems
to become a split entity in the film. The need to give
evil a human, and therefore recognizable, face is carried forth in the
person of Dr. Bob Gallo, head of the national laboratory at Bethesda,
and played by Alan Alda. Since he wants the glory of discovering and naming
the virus so badly that he is willing to tie up the successful efforts
of the CDC and the French government’s scientists with enough red
tape to quelch any serious progress for decades. Common sense on the part
of the French and the CDC prevails as they strike a bargain with Gallo,
who turns around and announces to the world that he was the one who discovered
the virus, thus screwing everyone for the sake of his ego.
The
film ends on an odd note, full of emotion-provoking/propagandist images
- which are mostly accurate - such as footage from the candlelight vigils
in San Francisco, juxtaposed with footage of Reagan and Nancy leading
the conservative Right into four more years of misery. I was reminded
of the ending to Schindler's List and absently wondered if this
was where Spielberg stole his ending.
There is a very fine scene in this film
where the CDC is meeting with other government health agencies at a round
table discussion in an attempt to determine how to curb the spread of
this disease as much as they can. As the attendees allow their comments
to become more internal,
and a few high-level bureaucrats allow their to become more shallow and
financially driven, Modine's frustration overcomes his civility and he
stands to deliver the most passionate and emotional speech he has ever
delivered. He lets loose a rant at these gut-scared officials, essentially
asking them how many people must die before a cure becomes cost effective?
And The Band Played On is one of the reasons why HBO is better than network TV, and often better than first-run features. The cast of this film is peppered with big-name actors who took scale in order to be a part of the project, including Steve Martin, Anjelica Houston, and Richard Gere. Their personal reasons for being a part of this story are well substantiated. This is a must-see film.