A Closer Walk

Director: Robert Bilheimer

Starring: Glenn Close, Will Smith, Kofi Annan, Bono, Dalai Lama

Director Richard Bilheimer (Oscar nominated for his film profiling the South African anti-apartheid leader Beyers Naude) made the statement, “The war on AIDS can…be won, and we, the people, can be the ones who win it. The film is for everyone, especially those millions who - through no fault of their own - have not been given an opportunity to really understand and learn about AIDS. We believe that once the knowledge we have tried to pass along through A Closer Walk becomes common knowledge, then a revolution can indeed begin, and the people will rise up and say ‘No More!’...We need to work together to turn this crisis around, but if we do, I promise you we will make history and save millions of lives.”

This is therefore, in all its devastation, a documentary on the world epidemic AIDS, which experts attest is currently at its mere beginnings. It was conceived by the late Jonathan Mann, responsible for the World Health Organisation’s response to AIDS and produced in association with the Global Health Council. Narrated by Glenn Close and Will Smith, more than 50 people are interviewed or profiled in a diverse range of locations from New York to Uganda and India to Switzerland. These people are from all walks of life and their stories cover the whole spectrum of the impact of AIDS upon life – sufferers, doctors, human rights advocates, scientists, economists and government leaders, and also figures including Kofi Annan, Bono and the Dalai Lama. At a basic level it studies the underlying causes, the battle for dignity and human rights and the imminent need for those who can to take action because we effectively have the worst human plague in history.

Thankfully the film does not overload the audience with facts and statistics but presents in a digestible way the real issues. It is informative and heartbreaking and A Closer Walk is a film everyone should feel some responsibility to see because it is not really up for debate, the world has a problem and it is this generation that have the power to make a difference.

Jean Rostron