Music, Style & Culture

We Were Here

An inspirational testimony to those affected by the emergence of AIDS.

Released in cinemas 25th November 2011.

David Weissman's intensely personal account of the AIDS crisis in 1980s San Francisco is told through the eyes of five eye-witnesses. The director of 2002's The Cockettes reunites with Bill Weber for a less cheerful look at the gay community, but one that is profoundly moving and ultimately uplifting.

We Were Here charts the terrifying and rapid spread of the "gay cancer" with the benefit of hindsight, and the testimonies of those personally involved makes for fascinating viewing. A "talking heads" documentary shot in the warm, familiar surroundings of the interviewee's own homes, it's interspersed with footage and images of the events that took place as doctors fought their eventually optimistic battle.

There's Eileen Glutzer, a feminist nurse whose idealism gave strength to her patients, and helped in the early days of research. Daniel Goldstein, the artist who saw close friends and lovers slip away. Guy Clark, the stalwart flower seller who observed the ravages of the disease street-side. Paul Boneberg, the handsome young man who came to the city for love and adventure and emerged as one of its most outspoken and respected activists. Finally, and most endearingly, there's Ed Wolf, whose own shyness of casual sex left him uninfected, but led him to be one of the first AIDS "buddies", a caring role he flourished in.

Weissman and Weber's collation and editing is sensitive yet stark. Images of sufferers in the latter stages of the then-fatal disease are not often seen these days, and serve to drum home the clinical horror. What's most remarkable about the film is the sense of camaraderie that was drummed up in a city plunged into despair - the lesbian community leading a blood donation drive is just one example.

A concise, revealing documentary that tells the story behind 15,000 deaths for the next generation, its refusal to dwell on political darkness and negativity leaves We Were Here a beacon of hope, and an inspirational testimony.

Rating: 8/10