This documentary focuses on the
late '90s and early '00s and the fight to get low-cost antiretroviral drugs
past pharmaceutical companies and Western interests into Africa, where the
drugs are desperately needed to prevent millions of deaths. Antiretrovirals are
used to treat people who are HIV positive or have AIDS. While the documentary has a
lot of really useful information, that's actually one of the problems with Fire in the Blood. It almost gets to the
point where there is so much information that it's hard to keep everything
straight.
Fire
in the Blood clearly presents information while showing both past and
present issues with getting the AIDS medications to the African countries that
need it. The film includes interviews from people who have directly impacted
the push to get reasonably priced medications into Africa, including such notables
as Bill Clinton, various activists, and a former Pfizer VP who became a
whistleblower. There are also interviews from some people who need the antiretrovirals
but are unable to afford the expensive costs for name brands.
All told, Fire in the Blood is a well edited together film with plenty of
high points, but it could have benefited from being pared down just a bit to
keep the story moving along. The director does well combining the facts with
some emotions by including interviews from people who desperately need the medications,
but the sheer number of those interviewed could have been decreased to more the
documentary along more quickly.
