THE CURE
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman
In reviewing the film, I must preface it with the statement that I believe AIDS is a plague about which I feel very strongly. So when I say that I felt the film should have been entitled, THE CURE (OR HUCK FINN HAS AIDS) you will be aware that I am not being funny about AIDS but rather about the film.
Dexter (Joseph Mazzello) is an eleven-year-old who has contracted AIDS during a blood transfusion. All the kids shun him him and many call him "homo." It seemed to me that how he caught the AIDS could have been explained by Linda, (Dexter's mother, Annabella Sciorra) and that would have stopped the harassing but of course, then there would not have been a film.
Dexter does find a sympathetic friend, Erik (Brad Renfro), also eleven years old. When he hears of a "cure" down south the two friends take off on a raft on the Mississippi (a la Huck Finn) and go seek the doctor who is claiming he has a cure. That part of the film and the people they encounter reminded me of Mark Twain's masterpiece.
Unlike the excellent LORENZO'S OIL, with the passionate Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte fighting the doctors, doing there own research and keeping the film alive and us on edge, this fails on all counts. Well intentioned, certainly. Box office? I doubt it. Too sad and not enough excitement.
Directed by Peter Horton.
2 Bytes 4 Bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
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