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reviews
Video Librarian March-April 2007
Pills Profits Protest: Chronicle of the Global Aids Movement
***1/2
Examining efforts to insure proper medical care for the poor who
are afflicted with HIV, filmmakers Anne-christine d’Adesky,
Shanti Avirgan and Ann T. Rossetti’s PILLS PROFITS
PROTEST effectively weaves together footage from protest
rallies and commentary from activists and medical workers in South
Africa, Haiti, Brazil, India, and the United States, whose collective
voices have made real progress in getting low-cost, lifesaving drugs
to the indigent (in marked contrast to responses from wealthy nations,
whose ineffective policies often place too much emphasis on prevention
over treatment.) The documentary points to success – such
as Brazil, where activists played a role in persuading the government
to institute universal access to proper treatment – and also
explains that while patent disputes have long inhibited the development
and availability of generic drugs, the pharmaceutical industry is
no less inclined to block the manufacturing of affordable drugs.
While the 20-year-old AIDS activist group ACT UP has played a large
part in these changes, “big pharma” is also responding
to negative images in the mainstream press. PILLS PROFITS
PROTEST not only serves to increase awareness of the spread
of HIV/AIDS, but also details how treatments of the disease have
been blocked in the interest of profits, while underscoring the
effectiveness and impact of grassroots movements on global policy.
Highly recommend. (N. Egan)
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Pills
Profits Protest