WE WERE HERE (David Weissman, U.S.). 90 minutes. Rating: NNN
There have been many docs about the AIDS crisis, but few have focused solely on how the epidemic affected San Francisco.
David Weissman’s straightforward, informative doc centres on five subjects whose lives were radically changed during that time. They range from a female nurse and a male volunteer working on the front lines of treatment to a politician dealing with mobilizing the city around issues like safe sex, quarantine and access to experimental drugs.
The heart of the film, however, belongs to Daniel Goldstein, an HIV-positive artist who watched most of his friends and two long-term partners lose their struggle with AIDS.
Rich archival material and many inspiring tales of courage and compassion make this a worthy document to a difficult era.
