“Bureaucracy only responds to pressure.”

“Positive” is one part of a trilogy of films about AIDS from German director and gay activist Rosa von Praunheim. In the year 1989, 100,000 people in the United States had AIDS and 22,000 lived in New York City, so Rosa von Praunheim travels to New York–the East Coast centre of the AIDS epidemic–to make his documentary. Hoping to list the assistance of a local filmmaker and journalist, AIDS afflicted Phil Zwickler, the two meet, and Zwickler questions why he should become involved with von Praunheim charging, “You make these voyeuristic nightmarish films.”

“Positive” charts how the gay community organized to help each other, gained public awareness, and battled the disease. The growth of the Gay Mens’ Health Crisis (GMHC) co-founded by author Larry Kramer showed that the gay community was “capable of organizing in face of government neglect.” Kramer acted as an early warning voice for gays when he predicted that AIDS would be seen as a “moralistic” result against promiscuity. The film also explores why Kramer’s warning was largely ignored and rejected throughout some strains of gay culture. According to the film, sexual encounters between gays had become a “sexless and cold commodity marked by self-hatred and fear of emotional closeness.” Kramer’s radical stance–especially against politicians–didn’t win him many points, and he was eventually tossed out of the GMHC.

The film takes a hard look at the manner in which AIDS was considered a ‘gay disease’ and its sufferers marginalized by such a sweeping judgment. Included are clips of Ronald Reagan and Mayor Koch on the topic of AIDS. (Koch is seen trying to avoid questions in a press conference.)

Unfortunately, the film distracts itself from its topic and takes many diversions. For example, while the voice-over narration explains the development of the first “safe-sex gay adult video”, we are shown more than a snippet of footage. Another section deals with the development of the gay phone sex industry. Well you learn something new every day … but that doesn’t mean an extensive, detailed reenactment is necessary. These diversions, unfortunately, go off on a tangent and detract from the film’s overall message, and the film suffers as a result.