The Normal Heart

amazing

source: The Normal Heart

source: The Normal Heart

source: The Normal Heart

The Normal Heart_720p(480P)

source: The Normal Heart

I am struggling to find the right words to use. This movie was/is one of the most brilliantly written, brilliantly directed and acted that I have seen in years. The pain and struggles were balanced with just the right amount of laughter as to not completely destroy the watcher. Make no mistake, you will be destroyed at the end but somehow you don't mind. This is a MUST watch for anyone under 40 especially. For those of us that are old enough to remember what those early days were like, it is a reminder that is painful to watch, but makes us joyful that we have come so far. We still have so much farther to go. Mark Ruffalo's performance was extraordinary! His grief, his anger and his passion were palpable. The performance by Jim Parsons blew me out of the water. Good lord it make actually make me watch his TV comedy now that I've seen this!

I saw the film Saturday night, it's still in my head and as I sit here writing this review. I feel a great sense of sadness for all those lost over all of these years, but what is most on my mind is Mark Ruffalo's tour De force performance as Ned Weeks. Although a fictionalized character based on Larry Kramer, Mark made this part his own, while still keeping the aspects of Kramer's real persona. You could feel his performance, every mood of it (and believe me it runs through all of them). Mark's ability to transform into a gay man (at a time in gay history that was so scary and unimaginable) with such believability was amazing. I forgot I was watching Mark Ruffalo, his performance completely erased his own being. There are many aspects of the film that critics are tearing into. Critics who were not even alive at the time opinion's on the subject are worthless in my view, but for those critics who have long ago left their pacifiers at home I can agree with some of the negatives. The film showed only a segment of the gay population living in NYC at that time, primarily the rich A listers who were never political before AIDS and only became so when their own lives were in danger. The majority of gay men did not spend sex filled weekends on Fire island in expensive beach houses. They were working men of all races and incomes who because of their financial circumstances, lack of insurance etc died quickly and with little notice outside their friends and family, if they were lucky enough to have a family that accepted them (remember this was 1981 not 2014). This film brought back a lot of sadness and regrets for me, I wanted to hug Ned Weeks and tell him that things do get better in the future. It's not often that a performance affects me, but Ruffalo's did, not because he was playing a fictionalized version of a real person, but because he was playing a little bit of a lot of different men, who at the time thought the promised land had finally arrived for gay men and only to see it turn into a Holocast right before their eyes. I hope that Mark is nominated and wins an Emmy for his performance, because he deserves it.

Several years ago HBO produced "And the Band Played On" a ferocious tale about the AIDS fight and government denial. That movie was a must see. The Normal Heart touch some history concepts very lightly but focus more on tearjerker situations and ego fights between the main characters. I assume almost every actor had the best intentions making this movie; but the movie is never clear about anything. There is no clear message; just a furious statement of a frustrated person (Kramer; the real play writer ) against the gay community and the government in equals part; but without any real point or objective. Just endless statements that at the end mean very little. If you are interested in this matter; get the Band Played On; you will really be moved bu that picture.

Supposedly the plot of this TV movie is a gay activist attempts to raise HIV/AIDS awareness during the early 1980s. Which, for those that know the history and the contributions of Larry Kramer (author), would leave an audience to believe this is the story of the origin to the successful organization ACT-UP. A group of activists that later would bring the attention of AIDS right into the 1992 presidential election and do more to bring effective medications to fight the virus that had ever tried before. That is how this was advertised but what audiences got was a sappy sluggish romance drama. The shining light within this drama is the stellar performances by both Julia Roberts and Jim Parsons. Noteworthy as well was the division within the gay community of how to present themselves to the public. The dead and the survivors matter. Larry Kramers contributions matter and to shadow him with a pseudonym, smears the work that these early groups did to make AIDS into the normal conversation.