'We Were Here' Brings History to a New Generation

Although documentaries are not usually high on the list of movies to watch, they can actually be enormously entertaining and thought-provoking. It is the rare documentary, however, that can also manage to be emotionally touching. The documentary film "We Were Here," which chronicles the early years of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, is one such documentary.

Directed by David Weissman, "We Were Here" is drawn from the stories of five survivors of the AIDS crisis, four men (at least one of whom is HIV positive) and a nurse. Through their stories we gradually come to learn about the very real, powerful, and human consequences of the disease and the ways in which it impacted the lives of those living in San Francisco.

In particular, the film brings home to contemporary audiences the enormous number of men who succumbed to the disease and its aftermath. Rather than just leaving these man anonymous and nameless, however, Weissman goes to great pains to show how these deaths had a very real impact on the other people living in San Francisco at the time: people who often knew many of the victims of the AIDS pandemic.

However, the documentary also goes to great pains to show the ways in which people with AIDS began to organize and press both the government and medical establishment for more coherent and focused efforts to bring the disease under control. In doing so, "We Were Here" urges contemporary viewers and younger people, many of whom were born either during or after the AIDS crisis had crested in the United States, to critically consider how the epidemic impacted both the lives of those who survived it and those who came after.

Unlike many documentaries, this one does not include a great deal of narration, meaning that the film is moved along by the power of the narratives and the interviews. As a result, we find ourselves continually drawn into the subjects' lives, finding ourselves emotionally involved as we learn about the ways in which their lives were changed and often traumatized by the greatest health crisis of the modern era.

In taking this particular approach, the film asks us to critically consider not only the way we view the past and what happened in it (as well as those who lived in it) but also think about the ways in which AIDS continues to shape our modern culture and society.

Perhaps most importantly, the film does not shy away from showing us the continuing consequences of the AIDS crisis in the present day. When we see these men and women talking about these issues, we cannot help but remember those who did not survive, those who were carried away on the first wave of the disease.

It is in this, I would argue, that the film draws its greatest power. It wants young people, many of whom have little or no awareness of the serious impact AIDS had (and continues to have) on the world, to understand that the pandemic radically reshaped both the LGBT community as well as the wider culture and the way it looked at that community.

After watching this film, you will emerge with a stronger sense of the AIDS crisis and the ways in which it impacted both individual lives and the lives of an entire community of people. Although the gay community is no longer synonymous with the AIDS pandemic, it is still very much a part of that community's history. This breathtaking and enormously touching documentary does an excellent job of bringing that history to light for a younger generation of viewers.