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Dose of Arts and Culture
Week of October 1, 2008
Can an award-winning documentary about the private politics of heterosexual sex and its impact on the mind-blowing rise of HIV in New York City among African-American women, get a second pass at art theaters around the country?
Several days ago, I was fortunate enough to have read a New York Times Arts Review of the touching but socially and emotionally challenging documentary All of Us; a film about the skyrocketing rise of HIV in the African American heterosexual female community by newcomer, director Emily Abt. So out into the rain I went, arriving at the theater early, expecting the glowing review to have triggered a crowd of interested New Yorkers. hardly.
The film was released to little fanfare this past week and ran a brief seven or eight days at the 12th Street Cinema in the Village, closing last weekend. Emily Abt spoke sweetly at the lightly attended screening before the movie began. Several members of WISH NY (The Women's Initiative to Stop HIV in New York) spoke passionately about this local health crisis afterward, introducing the film's "sHero," Chevelle, who was sitting in the audience.
Heartbreaking is an understatement for the tragedy that befalls the vulnerable African-American female community in the Bronx that is finding itself ravaged by the sexually-transmitted disease for which there is no cure. Why us? the film probes.
Each year, more than 66% of new AIDS cases in New York are to African-American women. As about 10% of the total New York City population, the statistic illustrates just how out of control HIV is in the African-American female community in NYC. Just where it seems to be declining among every other group in the city, it is quietly destroying the black community.
The documentary traces this new and troubling trend through the grinding work of a young, female, Harvard-trained, African-American doctor of Ethiopian descent, Dr. Mehret Mandefro. The good doctor manages to snag a coveted Robert Wood Foundation Grant for her development of the women's "Truth Circle," where women discuss losing control of the actual sex act by yielding their leverage to demand condom use during sex. Several women's lives are explored in light of AIDS' debilitating effect on the female body and spirit following consensual sex with a known infected partner. Why do we willing do this? the film asks. The answers to this question are not easy to digest, as they are intertwined with feelings of loneliness, lack of self-esteem and early sexual abuse. The documentary pretties up none of this.
As the subject matter would not permit me to consider the film traditionally entertaining, the topic, the crafting of the storyline, the film's pacing, the character development and the overall message are exceptional.
Currently, you can view the film on YouTube and get more information about it through the All of Us Facebook page.
