Fire In The Blood
Starring: Zackie Achmat, Peter Mugyenyi, Bill Clinton, Yusuf Hamied
Director: Dylan Mohan Gray
Rating: 5/5
2012 saw some terrific documentaries hit the big screen - it really was a stellar year - and that looks set to continue into 2013 as Fire In Blood is an early film in this genre that is not to miss.
This is such a wonderful movie from start to finish that will make you cry as well as make you incredibly angry.
An intricate tale of 'medicine, monopoly and malice,' Fire In The Blood tells the story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs for the countries of the global south in the year after 1996 - causing ten million or more unnecessary deaths - and the improbably group of people who decided to fight back.
Dylan Gray is a first time feature length filmmaker with this movie but you absolutely wouldn't know it as he handles this story with great compassion and efficiency.
He so easily could have got bogged down in all the stories and statistics but instead he has painted a compelling picture and only chatted to people who really help the story along.
The likes of Zackie Achmat and Edwin Cameron both deliver incredibly moving stories about their experiences with HIV.
Both men suffer from HIV and yet they have had very different experiences with receiving medicine and treatment for their illness.
Despite this being movie about what many consider to be 'the crime of the century' that resulted in millions of lives being lost this is a very uplifting story.
Fire In Blood shows that strength and determination of a small group of people that took on the powerful corporations... and won.
It is a film about fighting for what is right and fighting until they achieved what they wanted to achieve.
Many watching this movie may not be aware of the battle that raged over getting low cost AIDS drugs to Africa and Gray has delivered an illuminating movie that paints a very vivid picture of events.
Fire In The Blood is an incredibly moving documentary that will hook you from the opening scenes to the closing credits.
It is a movie that never loses sight of the suffering that these people endured and the courage that they had to see their fight through to the end.
This is an inspiring film from start to finish and it is one of the most powerful documentaries that I have seen for some time.
We caught up with Dylan Mohan Gray to chat about his terrific movie and the inspiration behind making it.
Fire In The Blood is out now