Witnessing Drama, Witnessing Disease

This past Friday night I wandered on over to the IFC Center in Manhattan to see Andre Techine's The Witnesses. The French Techine, director of Wild Reeds, Strayed and many other fine films, here tells the story of 4 people and their experience with onset of AIDS in the western world:

This beautifully acted ensemble film, which uses recurrent images of water and aviation, unfolds in three chapters. The first remembers the heady pre-AIDS era. The second observes the foursome’s reactions to the crisis, which for each is a test of character and of the strength of bonds they have taken for granted. In the third, those who remain pick up the pieces and go on.