Condoms, Fish and Circus Tricks: The AIDS Pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa 2003
Distributed by Filmakers Library, 124 East 40th Street, New York, NY 10016; 202-808-4980
Produced by Brenda and Robert Rooney
Director n/a
VHS, color, 47 min.
Jr. High - Adult
African Studies, Death and Dying, Human Rights
Date Entered: 12/10/2003
Reviewed by Patricia B. McGee, Coordinator of Media Services, Volpe Library & Media Center, Tennessee Technological UniversityCondoms, Fish and Circus Tricks presents another side of the hope versus despair equation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Filmed in Malawi, South Africa and Zambia, where it is estimated that one in four are HIV positive, the film is a blunt examination of the ravages of the AIDS pandemic. The film poses, but does not answer, such critical questions as is health care a basic democratic right, and what is the point of being tested if there is no treatment, no cure? It is estimated that 25% of the doctors in southern Africa will be dead by 2005. Thirteen million AIDS orphans live in the area, a number that is estimated to rise to forty million by 2010. In one village in Malawi, the community of 250 people is caring for fifty orphans. At the same time a declining population is unable to sustain subsistence farming; malnutrition increases while resistance to disease decreases. Africa’s HIV-AIDS crisis is complex; solving it will require changes in the health care system, in public attitudes toward sex, in treating STDs, and in drug pricing. Yet to just simply look upon the patient, hopeless faces of the dying and know nothing will be done is unthinkable. A well crafted documentary about an important topic.