Day 75/79 - We Were Here (2011)

The rainbow flag, created in 1978, is one
of the pride symbols of the LGBT community.

A female nurse, an artist, a comforter, an political activist, and a florist—all give their perspective of living in San Francisco during the AIDS crisis of the 1970s through the 1990s, when over 15,500 people died. Their riveting stories touch the heart. The speakers indeed serve as witnesses to the fact that "we were here."

AIDS was originally believed to be just a gay cancer that only gays could get. No one at the beginning knew its cause nor how it was spread, but most Americans ignored its impact until the number of the dead became staggering. The film uses personal histories to teach what the personal and political impact those years had. As people were seeming to disappear from the street, some political and religious leaders began calling for quarantining the city and tattooing those with the disease. Only after they realized some straight people might be affected did things change.

The film was directed by David Weissman and Bill Weber. The cast includes Ed Wolf, Paul Boneberg, Daniel Goldstein, Guy Clark and Eileen Glutzer. The focus of this film is purely on the San Francisco experience and the impact is often devastating. If you saw Milk and were inspired by it, see these real life stories told by the people who lived them.

We Were Here (2011) **** (Netflix Streaming)

[Personal note: I helped create and sponsored for several years a Gay-Straight Alliance at a Chicago south suburban high school. This is one of the documentaries I would have welcomed to help students understand the history that shaped the modern gay movement. For those younger people who have little idea of the history of life before AIDS, this gives a sobbering perspective.]