''The Lazarus Effect'' is a 2010
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
about the positive impact of free
antiretroviral drug therapy on
HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
patients in Africa. It was directed by
Lance Bangs
Lance Bangs (born September 4, 1972) is an American filmmaker and music video director. He has created videos for Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Neutral Milk Hotel, Green Day, Arcade Fire, The Shins, The Thermals, Belle & Sebastian, Menomena, Yeah Yeah ...
, and executive produced by
Spike Jonze
Adam H. Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze, is an American filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes commercials, film, music videos, skateboard videos and television.
Jonze began his ca ...
, after an organizer from AIDS awareness group
Red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
suggested the project to them.
The film features patients and medical staff in
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
speaking about their experiences and was produced by Red and
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
. It was screened on HBO and
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
in May 2010, and it is also available on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
.
Synopsis
Made in
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
, the 30-minute film tracks several people who were seriously ill but return to a healthier condition in a relatively short period of time after starting free
antiretroviral drug therapy.
HIV-positive patients and medical staff recount their experiences and the impact medication has made on their lives in their own words.
They include Constance Mudenda, a mother whose children all died of AIDS, and who now works as a peer education supervisor at an AIDS clinic; Paul Nsangu, a young husband and father; Bwalya, an 11-year-old girl who at the beginning of the film looks like a child half her age, because of her disease; and Concillia Muhau, a young mother who recovered from the brink of death, and now also works as a peer counselor.
Interviewees describe their illness and recovery; they also speak about the difficulties involved in persuading people to have themselves
tested for HIV, given the severe social stigma that results from a positive test result, and in getting word about the available treatment out to remote rural areas, as well as the logistical problems of providing care to patients who may have to walk for four days and three nights to reach a clinic.
Background
Bangs and Jonze made the film after they were contacted by an organizer from AIDS awareness group
Red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
. The organizer suggested they film a documentary in AIDS clinics in Zambia, where one out of seven people is
HIV-positive, and one person's daily dose of antiretroviral drugs costs about 40 cents according to Red – a cost which many patients are unable to afford.
Red's member companies use 50 per cent of their profits from Red licensing products to contribute to
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This, along with the
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, provides the majority of funding for AIDS programmes in Africa, including the provision of free antiretroviral drugs to some three million people.
Antiretroviral drugs, when taken regularly, are able to restore vitality to HIV-positive people, enabling them to lead normal lives.
Executive producer Jonze asked Bangs to direct the documentary, as Jonze was still busy completing ''
Where the Wild Things Are
''Where the Wild Things Are'' is a 1963 children's picture book written and illustrated by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published in hardcover by Harper & Row. The book has been adapted into other media several tim ...
''.
Bangs then made three journeys to Africa in 2009 to make the film, determined "to let the people speak for themselves, rather than have a lot of earnest Western talking heads".
Explaining the film concept to the ''
Portland Mercury'', Bangs said: "I've seen enough horrible documentaries that objectify people or assign them victimhood status. That was pretty appalling to me, and was not the film I wanted to make. I wanted to talk to people directly and get them to open up and be funny or goofy or whatever personality traits they have that don't usually come out in AIDS documentaries."
Bangs said he was profoundly moved by his experience in Africa: "I had lost friends and teachers to AIDS and AIDS-related illnesses, but at least in the West the drugs are available. In Africa I was shocked at how skeletal our interviewees’ faces were, how their eyes bulged from their sockets. After just a few months on their drugs they were transformed."
The film's title is based on the
Biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
story of
Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, and echoes the feelings of those who recovered thanks to drug therapy.
Promotion
U2 singer
Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
helped promote the documentary and associated campaign, and gathered a group of A-List celebrities to make an advertisement for it. This featured short scenes, filmed by French photographer
Brigitte Lacombe
Brigitte Lacombe (born December 23, 1950, in Alès) is a French photographer residing in New York City. In May 2009, she published a collection "Lacombe anima/persona" with her photographs covering her work from 1975 to 2008. She widely published i ...
, with stars like
Penélope Cruz,
Javier Bardem,
Ludacris and others showing the trivial items that can be bought for US$0.40.
The documentary itself premiered at the
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
on May 4, 2010.
Constance Mudenda and Concillia Muhau, two of the women portrayed in the film, travelled to New York for the premiere.
The documentary was screened on
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
and
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
on May 24, 2010, and also placed on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
.
Reception
The "Watch This" column in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' stated, "It's hard to imagine that there could be a positive story to be told about HIV in Africa – if there is, however, ''The Lazarus Effect'' is probably it." Paul Whitelaw, writing in ''
The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'', called the film "a surprisingly uplifting and quirk-free documentary about growing efforts to curb the scourge of HIV/Aids in Africa
..A heartening story of hope."
Critic Noel Murray of
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
described the film as a "straight-up advocacy doc, designed to get anyone who watches it to open their wallets. And it’s remarkably effective at that."
Sarah Mirk
Sarah Shay Mirk (she/they) is an author, zinester, and journalist based in Portland, Oregon, in the United States.
Education
Mirk attended Grinnell College, graduating in 2008.
Career
She worked for the ''Portland Mercury'' from 2008 to 2013. ...
, writing in the ''
Portland Mercury'', praised the film for breathing "sincere life and inspiration into the often schlocky world of AIDS movies", saying, "There's no heavy-handed Western narrator here to explain the crisis. There are only the patients and their nurses, all HIV-positive, discussing their lives and laughing in joy at their successes, backed by a lively Chicago brass-band soundtrack rather than the cliché tribal drums or Graceland-style songs. It's a hopeful film. It's a vibrant film."
References
External links
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Authorized presentation on Youtube''The Lazarus Effect'' Red
*
Lazarus Effect HBO Documentary – Pictures from RED Campaign Lazarus Effect Harper's Bazaar
''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...
Product Red Steps Up Its Efforts With ‘Lazarus Effect’ April 29, 2010, mediadecoder blog,
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
Launch of (RED)'s Lazarus Effect campaign 19 May 2010,
Marie Claire
''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...
"Bono Promotes 'The Lazarus Effect'" May 4, 2010, Extra
May 4, 2010, talk.excite.de
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarus Effect, The
2010 television films
2010 films
2010 short films
Documentary films about HIV/AIDS
American documentary television films
2010 documentary films
Films directed by Lance Bangs
HIV/AIDS in American films
2010s short documentary films
American short documentary films
2010s English-language films