"Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt"

Heart-breaking and Beautiful

Amos Lassen

"Common Threads" is a recounting of the lives and the deaths of victims of the AIDS epidemic whose names are commemorated in the AIDS quilt. "The Quilt" as it is now known is a massive cloth which collects each piece as a memorial for each person who died from AIDS and its purpose is to remember them, to show the death toll and to show the humanity of the victims to those who would prefer to demonize them. This is not a film to be taken lightly and for me it was heartbreaking as I am sure it is to anyone who has ever loved and lost someone to AIDS. This is not an east film to see but it should be seen by every living soul and especially by those who want a greater understanding of the tremendously devastating impact of the AIDS.
The way the film (which won the 1989 Academy Award for documentary) unfolds the lives is beautiful and it does what most films set out to do--to move and transform the audience. Structurally the film is simple and this makes it that much more real--we hear from survivors of AIDS victims in different ways which humanize their suffering. The film is told with emotion and the narration by Dustin Hoffman is particularly moving. The interviews are powerful---five people speak of what it was like to watch their loved ones die and these are not just gay men we lost. One of the dead spoken of was a straight man and another a hemophiliac child. They talk from the essence of their beings and three of them are HIV infected.
A touch of genius was the inclusion of broadcasts from the news stations, television specials, speeches from politicians and from doctors during the first years of the epidemic. We also learn about the making of the quilt and the traditions and handiwork.
One cannot help but tear up during the film but it is not because the film manipulates us to do so. We cry because we care and we cry for those we have lost and will lose. AIDS is a subject that most of us know all too well. The quilt, however, is a humane way to look at AIDS and "Common Threads" shows that to us.
A point that I want to make lest we forget---the government of the United States did nothing to alleviate the epidemic until too many were already dead. How ashamed I have felt about this. On a personal note--I was living in Israel during the height of the epidemic and when I returned in 1989 for a visit, most of the people I had been friendly with before I left were gone. I did not have the chance to say goodbye and I shall always feel guilty for that.

I am a health teacher who first saw this moving film right after it came out. Always seeking a way to help my students know the history behind this pandemic, this film remains a classic in my video library. Everyone must KNOW what the attitudes were at the start of the epidemic, and the stories shared in this film hold nothing back. My students learn so much in this film; they learn about grief, and they learn that they must never, never forget the pain and suffering of the early days of AIDS. I think most importantly, however, is that the memories of those who came before are kept alive in this film. If you are looking for a way to remind people of how powerful love truly is in the face of despair, this movie is it! I've also had the honor of attending the AIDS Quilt in its last full display in Washington, CD in 1996, and, have hosted two quilt displays at my own school. Seeing the stories of David, Jeff, Tom, Tracey, Perryman, and their families play out in this moving tribute is something I will continue to use in my classroom until I leave teaching. Thanks for this beautiful gift!

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman are two of the finest documentarians we have around today. From making one of the best documentaries ever, "The Times of Harvey Milk", to the cutting edge "Celluloid Closet", their movies chronicle grand times and the people that are behind those times. Another tour de force work is their response to the horrific AIDS crisis, in the movie "Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt".

Wanting to make a film that accompanied the amazing paneled quilt that was being created as a response to ignored AIDS epidemic. Epstein and Friedman decided to highlight the people behind the quilt. They read thousands of letters, met people, and selected seven stories to highlight, which make up the crux of the film. Sallie Perryman, who's husband drug use brought on the disease, to Vito Russo talking about his best friend, the people speak of their loved ones on film, and their ensuing sickness, with honesty and compassion. In addtion, the filmmakers included archival footage, tracing the development of the disease, in a somewhat shocking and insensitive way at first. By the time the quilt is unfolded, you are moved, and touched by these people's lives, so that if you didn't know anyone who was on the AIDS quilt, you knew seven people now.

Common Threads won the Academy award for best Documentary, and deservedly so. This a film that should be celebrated, and remembered, as a visual love note to all of those souls that we lost to AIDS.

This is a heartbreaking and amazing documentary. Do not neglect to watch the special features. Vito Russo's ACT UP Speech alone is worth the price of this dvd.

This emotionally stunning film deservedly won the 1989 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Friends and family tell the stories of five disparate individuals whose lives are lovingly represented by panels in the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt: David Mandell, Jr., an 11-year-old hemophiliac; Dr. Tom Waddell, Olympic athlete and organizer of the Gay Games; Robert Perryman, a former drug addict turned proud husband and father; Jeffrey Sevchik, the lover of film historian, author, and gay activist Vito Russo; and David C. Campbell, a gay "everyman" whose story is touchingly told by his dying partner, Lt. Commander Tracey Torrey. The threads of these persons' courageous battles with AIDS are interwoven with archival news footage detailing the history of the disease's spread throughout America, and examples of how the United States government and public did - or perhaps more accurately, often did not - respond to the growing crisis. The film ends with the surviving loved ones describing the experiences of making the Quilt panels, and then details the first national exhibition of the Quilt in Washington, D. C. in October 1987. (The Quilt was last displayed in Washington in 1996, and had grown to over twenty times the size shown here.)

The raw emotions of the storytellers are incredibly powerful in their purity and honesty; it's impossible not to be moved to tears as David Mandell's father speaks of his child's last Christmas, or Russo tells the story of visiting his partner's body in the morgue. The film footage is beautifully supported by Dustin Hoffman's eloquent narration (his voice has never been so convicted yet quietly subdued in any of his film roles), and hauntingly underscored by the music of Bobby McFerrin performed by Voicestra.

"Common Threads" is an absolutely must-see film that not only reveals the human face of HIV and AIDS, and gives voice to those who are left behind to grieve in the wake of death and suffering. With each scene, the movie also offers larger evidence of humanity's capacity to cope with devastating tragedy; to express compassion and selflessness; and above all else, to love wholly and unconditionally through even the worst of circumstances.