Movie : The Normal Heart
If you were an adult in the 80s, you were probably hit by the HIV storm. Nobody knew what was happening, people were dying one after the other…. I even heard that some gay men lost 15-20 friends in just few years…. It was probably really hard for gay men to live in the 80’s at the beginning of HIV when it wasn’t well known and everybody used it to discriminate gay men.
The Normal Heart is a 2014 American drama television film directed by Ryan Murphy and written by Larry Kramer, based on his own 1985 play of same name. The film stars Mark Ruffalo, Jonathan Groff, Matt Bomer, Taylor Kitsch, Jim Parsons, Alfred Molina, Joe Mantello, and Julia Roberts. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 26, 2014.
The film depicts the rise of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City (among gay people) between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group. Weeks prefers public confrontations to the calmer, more private strategies favored by his associates, friends, and closeted lover Felix Turner (Bomer). Their differences of opinion lead to arguments that threaten to undermine their shared goals.
Have you seen the movie yet?
Check out the trailer below!
Dave
I ran out and bought the movie the day it was released on DVD, Everyone needs to watch this movie, it is awesome. The all-star cast could not be better. Matt Bomer and Mark Ruffalo as a couple, WOW!! If one is not hot enough, put the two together and create all kinds of fantasies. Julia Roberts part was made for her to play, it was pure perfection. Jim Parson’s part again was made for him. Its kind of a business man professional type that doesn’t let emotions show. Definitely recommend this movie to everyone, not one that I would ever recommend to watch with family (small children) or anything but alone, with partner, or group would be fine.
Although the movie was good it lacked the real impact that the play did back in 1985. It would have been nice if they actually hadn’t updated several things to make it more palatable for today’s audiences and stayed truer to the original play.
HIV, before there was any effective treatment, is a tough, frustrating, and interesting topic.
A little off topic, and maybe most guys have already seen it, but I recently found the “Dead Gay Porn Stars Memorial” on YouTube.
A different, handsome porn star’s face is shown about every 10 seconds and the video runs for 12 minutes.
http://youtu.be/VpHdb-q1Mow
Some of the deaths were caused by overdoses, suicides, and homicides, but most were due to HIV.
The message of the video’s producer, “Don’t watch porn” is controversial for many.
Another message of the video could be “Avoid anything-goes sex” but that idea is probably also controversial.
Yes, it is well written and well acted with an important part of American and American gay history dramatized. However, it is very wordy and a much better play than a movie. That said, I’m glad it was made and all gay men — of all ages — should see it.
I was in my 20’s back in the 80’s. It was a scary time for gay men back then. For me personally, it ended the easy love and sex with strangers, not knowing for sure how the Aids virus was being contracted to us gay men. I have known, and had many friends who had the virus back then, and who are now gone. They, like so many of todays youth lived life frivolously, with there partying and sex partys not caring if they themselves was being affected or affecting others. Yes today there are drugs to help prolong gay mens lives, but at what quality of life do the men live once affected and on the drugs. I read a lot of profiles here on a4a, and it is scary in todays fast paced world we live in, compared to the 80’s, not to mention all the sex education there is today, that young men 18, who barley are getting start in this life are already poz. I wonder if todays young men really think about, or have the desire to live a old age. I am 59 now, I am healthy for a man of my age, which I cherish every day. Lots of men my age are on meds for ailments they have to have to survive.
The “rise” of “gay cancer,” later called GIDS, got underway in NYC around 1979. I read about it in my morning LA Times around that year, and knew it was heading worldwide. Later, of course, we learned bout “Patient Zero”, the French-Cannuck with the incredible sexual capacity, who infected the US, starting mainly with NYC. It first spread to SF, then made its way down to LA, then the suburbs by the mid-’80s. My first antibody test came back positive…false positives were common back in those days. Anyone who thinks HIV is “no big deal” needs to be put on depo so they can’t get it up…it is STILL a big deal! It shut me down with men from the ’80s until after the AZT era, and still, men are not “easy” for me. It is the virus which forever changed gay and bi society.
I lost so many friends I stopped keeping a written address book. Of the 26 gay friends I had in college there are 2 (if I can count myself) alive today.
There is such a hole in my life that I don’t think the younger generation understands.
It mortifies me to all the ads online to play “raw”.
I think as a community we have forgotten too quickly.
I’ve seen the movie several times. I was a wild time but a also a very scary time. I remember the times even in Raleigh. A lot of guys were scared to death, including me. Thing that I loved in the movie was the intensity of the relationships. It gave me hope that, even in this day, I might find a guy that I can love as much. Movie is a must see.
I saw the movie a few weeks after it came out. It gave us a bit of a history lesson, as to how things began, and how Heroes rose up to fight against hatred, homophobia, and stupidity. We have come along way, and have made serious strides that saved lives. Let’s not sit on our laurels, or fall back into past practices. We will progress forward to an eventual cure of HIV/AIDS.
Saw the movie on HBO back in May when it was released. Saw the play in NYC, 2 years ago, then I saw it in Toronto. I happened to stand outside in the pouring rain to have good old Larry sign my book and to thank him for everything he did trying to bring this to the screen and up front.
Those days were awful – but with Hope we should never lose sight of the struggle continues and stop being vicious to each other and love & respect.
When I saw this movie and remembering back in 1988 that grade school kids were learning about AIDS. By the time I was going to therapy in the early 90’s and learned that it started when I was just a toddler made it all that more real. Like many gay teens who felt alone like I did, some of the other students in my middle school said I was going to get AIDS like Pedro Zamora in Real World San Francisco.
After that I had little or respect for straight people and blamed the conservative government under Reagan. I’m sure there are men who survived the early 80’s who still feel raw at the lack of action. By December of 1997 I made a choice that after I graduated or expelled from high school I would use my sexuality like a deadly weapon.
Anyone else who voted to use sex a as weapon against the Anti-Gay movement?
I grew up in the eighties (came out very early) and I remember everything in that movie. Plus I was from NY at the time. It’s a great movie, with great acting, but very very emotional for me.
Patient Zero came to be because randy shilts needed a villain for And the Band Played On. Gaetan dugas willingly participated in the earliest cluster studies. His help was invaluable in tracking and mapping the disease.
Take the time to learn about robert reyford, the first documented HIV casualty in the united states. He died in 1969.
As a survivor of the time ( I was 19 in 1985, and my friends started dying before rock hudson), in my opinion The Normal Heart works better as a play than as a movie.
Not that the movie isn’t good. It is. But there’s something about seeing it live in a theatre. Hits you in the heart even harder.
And who knew matt bomer can actually act?
If you are looking for a great double feature, watch this movie first and then john greyson’s Zero Patience.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention david drake’s The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, which is a perfect companion piece to the kramer.
It’s in my netflix queue!
The HBO film of “The Normal Heart” is really a triumph. An excellent production of a difficult play, addressing events at a very scary time in American history. Terrific performances by the whole cast (esp. Ruffalo & Bomer). It’s been a while since I’ve read the play, but I’d say this movie captures the essence of the growing fear of that time period very well. Young gay guys today can’t imagine what it was like back in the early/mid 80s, watching your friends sicken, waste away and die, and having NO idea how or why it was happening. We watched the movie with a former actress friend of mine who lived in NYC during that time…. she had six close gay male friends who lived in her apartment building…. She watched five of them die. Truly a must-see movie.
As an additional source of information/reference on that time period you might want to check out another excellent HBO production: their film “And the Band Played On”, based on the book by Randy Shilts. Basically tells the story of the same time period in San Francisco.
Words can’t express how FANTASTIC this movie is. Best movie I’ve seen all year. The entire cast deserves a standing ovation. I think it should be mandatory that every gay person see this movie. Truly spectacular.
Been there, lived that.
I lost many friends, and one ex lover to the AIDs mystic. The sorry thing is many gay men that died of other causes where said to have died of AIDs. I had a friend that died of a blood cancer that killed his Mother and most of his mothers family. When he died I was the only one of his friends that went to his funeral, because some one rumored he had died of AIDs. Many of the people that bought into the rumors ended up dieing of AIDs themselves. I will keep an eye out for the movie. Looks like it would be an interesting movie. But with loosing so many to AIDs I’m not sure if I could watch it all the way through.
Thought it was a great movie and I will definitely buy it. Everyone should watch this movie. Mark Ruffalo should have won an Emmy. I thought the scene when Mark and Matt made love was so touching to me. Watching that tear go down the side of eye made it real for me. I’m glad it finally got made into a movie and am so sorry I didn’t see the play.
Yes, I have seen the movie and loved it. We need more movies like this to tell the story of how LGBT people have suffered needlessly throughout the ages.
“…I’ve even heard that some gay men lost 15-20 friends in just a few years.”
The truth was far worse, for most Gay men, haveing 15-20 of their friends pass within a month or two was not unusual during the worst of the AIDS crisis. I did not live in a large city at the time, yet of the roughly 180 gay friends I had, there is only myself and two others who are alive today.
Being poz myself i could relate to everything in this movie..I Cried My Eyes Out ! The really sad thing is in the beginning the gay community was United against the virus. We supported each other whether we were poz or not. Now stigma has put a cloud over us separating the neg from the poz..So many poz guys are desperate for interaction with other gay men but are shunned which only goes to show how ignorant we have become. Knowledge is everything and by now you would think that all gay men would be fully educated about this disease. I challenge all gay men to reach out to a poz guy and just say hello. You would be surprised at the response. Merry Christmas everyone !