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PAGE 12 — The Georgia Bulletin, May 31, 1990
Film Soars Beyond Grim Reality
Of AIDS Devastation
ACTION FILM — Actor Tommy Lee Jones (left) plays flight instruc
tor Brad Little and actor Nicolas Cage is pilot Jake Preston in ‘ Fire
Birds,” a film the U.S. Catholic Conference calls a “romantic, old-
fachmnpH mnvip ” ifNS nhntn from Nova International Films)
Despite the certain
knowledge of the disease’s
outcome, the film main
tains interest and even
builds suspense about the
characters as it pro
gresses. A self-effacing,
wry humor rescues the
bleak moments in the film
so that it never sinks into
maudlin sentimentality.
Nor does the film resort to
campiness or sensa
tionalism as its focus is
more on the devastation
that AIDS produces rather
than a depiction of the gay
lifestyle.
On the other hand, each
of the characters exhibits
such genuine caring,
unlimited devotion and
grace under pressure that
it strains credulity. The
only female character is
likewise a pillar of support
and joyous acceptance of
her gay friends. The result
is a rather idealized ver
sion how people involved
with AIDS victims respond.
Far from being a
thoroughly depressing
film, the positive aspects
that emerge from the characters’ heroism in caring tor
each other sends a real life-affirming message.
Because of the frank depiction of homosexual activity,
mainly male kissing and embraces, a fleeting shot of rear
nudity, the acceptance of recreational drug use and
sporadic rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference
classification is A-IV — adults, with reservations. The Mo
tion Picture Association of America rating is R —
restricted.
"Fire Birds"
“Fire Birds” (Touchstone) is a romantic, old-fashioned
combat movie, updated to reflect the government’s war on
drug-trafficking.
Ace Army pilot Jake Preston (Nicolas Cage) is sent to the
ultimate fighter-pilot training school to perfect his air-to-
air helicopter combat techniques. He is determined to be
chosen for the mission to get Stoller — the South American
drug cartel’s No. 1 fighter pilot. Stoller killed Jake’s buddy,
and his stunning success has enabled the cartel to flourish.
But first Jake must win over his instructor Brad (Tommy
Lee Jones), who has mixed feelings about Jake replacing
him as the Army’s best combat flier.
Brad pushes him to the limit, but when Jake is nearly
dropped from the program, his ex-girlfriend, Billie (Sean
Young), intervenes. A pilot herself, she abhors Jake’s sex
ist ways but can't quite resist his renewed overtures.
After some soul-searching, Billie and Brad help Jake
overcome a vision problem, and the three are assigned to
Operation Fire Bird, where they take out Stoller in an
opulent display of fast-paced firepower.
Director David Green propels the far-fetched storyline
forward with prackerjack aerial photography. In fact,
backed by inspirational marching music, the air training
and combat scenes become the film’s centerpiece since
Jake’s success, renewed romance and the enemy’s demise
are foregone conclusions.
The three leads turn in highly sympathetic performances
as they rehash familiar themes — youth vs. age, male vs.
female. Despite Jake’s cockiness, the audience comes to
root for him when he develops enough sensitivity to
recognize his instructor is coping with a midlife crisis.
Billie is dedicated to her career as a pilot, with all its in
herent risks, and in rekindling her relationship with Jake
she forces him to accept her equal right to follow a dream.
The helicopter scenes are exciting, even dizzying, with
the final showdown requiring concentration just to keep
score and understand the dialogue, which is sometimes lost
in the mounting firepower.
The film’s simplistic conclusion, in which one military
mission effectively cripples the drug cartel’s operation,
trivializes the reality of the drug problem, but will be ap
preciated by action fans.
Because of extremely violent combat scenes, an extended
scene built around double entendres and a fairly restrained
bedroom scene, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification
is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of
America rating is PG-13 — parents are strongly cautioned
that some material may be inappropriate for children
under 13.
Sensitive Documentary Depicts AIDS Care
NEW YORK (CNS)—“Longtime Companion” (Samuel
Goldwyn) gives a personal face to the AIDS epidemic by
following the lives of three male couples from the first men
tion of the then-unnamed disease in an article in The New
York Times in 1981 through specifically dated episodes in
their lives over the next eight years.
Less than a year after the initial report on the “rare
cancer” afflicting homosexual men, David (Bruce
Davison) and Willy (Campbell Scott) meet in a hospital
emergency room and are shocked by how ill a mutual
friend has become.
Fearing the worst, the friends attempt small talk, but
David confides that his lover, Sean (Mark Lamos), a TV
soap opera writer, is becoming morbidly concerned about
his health.
The friend dies and by the following year the usual sum
mer party fun at David’s Fire Island cottage is tempered by
the obvious presence of AIDS sufferers at the gay beach
community.
Howard (Patrick Cassidy), an actor in Sean’s soap opera,
is the next to discover his lover has the dreaded acquired
immune deficiency syndrome. Meanwhile, Sean is diagnos
ed, and David embraces his caretaking role with quiet
dignity.
The impact of the epidemic really hits home when, follow
ing Sean’s death, the next scene shows surviving friends
gathering for David’s funeral.
In a sweetly touching fantasy finale, Willy, his partner
Fuzzy (Stephen Caffrey) and best friend Lisa (Mary-Louise
Parker) hope for a cure and imagine a joyful beach party
attended by all their beloved longtime companions.
Writer Craig Lucas and director Norman Rene have
fashioned a film that soars beyond the grim subject of AIDS
to explore the unexpected strengths of the human spirit.
The characters are shown in everyday situations but in
the extraordinary circumstances of coping with a killer
disease on the loose. The performances are very natural
and convincing, especially Davison as David and Lamos as
his frightened partner Sean, who deteriorates before our
eyes while David provides the loving and steadfast care
that enables Sean to slip away peacefully at the end.
Willy also shows considerable courage when he kisses a
friend hospitalized with AIDS, despite his terror that it can
be caught by casual contact.
As the illness takes its toll, the men endure while facing
loss of jobs, medical insurance and renewed hostility Irom
society.
BLACK ART—“Petite Ballerina,” a paint
ing by Lois Mailou Jones, is on display at the
High Museum of Art’s exhibition, Black Art
Ancestral Legacy, through August 5. The High
is located at 1280 Peachtree St„ Atlanta.
(Photograph by Scurlock Studios.)
NEW YORK (CNS)—The compassionate care found in a
hospice dedicated to preparing AIDS patients for death is
the subject of “Living the Last Days,” airing Tuesday,
June 5, 10-11 p.m. on WPBA, Channel 30.
Located in suburban Los Angeles, the Brownlie Hospice
has been caring for AIDS patients since December 1988.
With 25 beds and a staff of 40. the facility is supported large
ly by state and local funds and serves AIDS patients at a
fraction of the cost of hospital care.
As with any hospice, Brownlie is a place where terminal
ly ill patients come to die in dignity and peace. Each death
is marked by a gathering of staff, residents, family, friends
and loved ones to share memories of the deceased.
The emphasis of the program, however, is not on death
but “on the living of the last days.” That’s how Chris
Brownlie described the purpose of the hospice he founded
before he died from the acquired immune deficiency syn
drome in 1989.
Written and produced by Nancy Salter, the documentary
focuses on a half-dozen or so residents of Brownlie in
various stages of the fatal disease. Avoiding the clinical and
the morbid, the program is sensitive to the humanity as
well as mortality of each patient.
Viewers will similarly be sensitized to the psychological
and emotional stress faced by the staff in dealing with the
hospice’s "relentless rhythm of deaths” and the grieving ol
those left behind. This is not easy work and the staff’s
dedication earns our respect if not admiration.
Franciscan Father Bernard Castagnola, who is simply
called "Bernie” in the film, is one of the most articulate and
frequently shown members of the staff. Though religion is
never touched upon in the documentary, his concern for
these dying AIDS patients is a contemporary example of
doing a traditional corporal work of mercy.
Actress Salome Jens narrates this moving, compas
sionate portrait, providing viewers with a sense of the
human dimension of the epidemic that, one way or another,
affects all of us. It is not for the youngsters but appropriate
for older adolescents and their parents.