The Normal Heart - Unedited Reaction - Patreon Exclusive
Added 2024-02-24 17:34:18 +0000 UTCThis movie really touched me. There's just so much we take for granted, but movies like this remind you of the privilege as queers we have today. What a heartbreaking story!
Comments
Hi Evelyne! I actually have not seen that! I'm thinking this might be the next movie I react to. Thanks for your suggestion!
Fabian Gonzalez
2024-03-24 23:00:09 +0000 UTCI don't know if you've already seen it, but you should watch The Boys in the Band movie on Netflix, it has Matt Bomer and a cast of only gay actors and talks about gay life in 1968
Evelyne Félix
2024-03-24 07:20:35 +0000 UTCScott! Thank you for recommending me this movie! It’s SO great. Throughout the movie I kept wondering whether the characters were real or not, so thank you so much for confirming that they were! It makes the movie even more impactful! Also, what an interesting fact about Matt Bomer! I thought it was really good make up, prosthetics or CGI, and was not expecting it to be him behind that transformation! Kudos to him for doing that for this role! I can’t even begin to imagine how it is for you to watch something like this having lived through this yourself and bringing so many memories. I am so appreciative of you filling the gaps when it comes to my lack of knowledge on all of this and answering my questions. I am learning so much thanks to you! And I think your idea is great! I will put it on my Youtube. Thank you so much for your suggestion. Until the next reaction! Take care, and have a lovely week ahead!
Fabian Gonzalez
2024-02-26 19:04:35 +0000 UTCFabi! I've just watched your full reaction and comments. Thanks again so much for reacting to this film. I'm glad you thought it was worthwhile to watch. Just a few things to touch on some of your questions and comments: This story was originally a stage play written by Larry Kramer. Larry was a New York writer and gay activist and was always very controversial, even within the gay community, as the film shows. He just died in 2020 at the age of 84. The play was written near the very start of the AIDS crisis and was first performed in New York in 1985, when the crisis was still quite new but really starting to get a lot worse. To answer your question about whether the characters represent real people, they indeed do. In fact, this is largely an autobiographical work, with Ned, the main character, representing Larry Kramer himself, and most of the other characters representing other real people. Kramer did indeed start the first AIDS support charity, Gay Men's Health Crisis, in his living room in NYC. He also helped to found ACT UP, which was a very important organization in bringing awareness about the disease and advocating for research funding. Kramer is a hero to me, despite being controversial. I really appreciate that you said something to the effect that you need both kinds of activists--the loud angry ones and the quieter more diplomatic ones--because especially when nobody is listening, you HAVE to be loud and somewhat obnoxious, otherwise they just ignore you. Another hero represented in this film is the Julia Roberts character, who represented the real-life Dr. Linda Laubenstein. She was one of the first to recognize the appearance of the disease and start collecting data and research on it. She indeed used a wheelchair because of a bout with childhood polio, as the character in the film showed. As you said, this is not a film that you watch for fun. It is, as you also said, very important, and I think it is extremely well done, with superb acting from a top notch cast that included several gay actors as well as straight ones such as Roberts and Ruffalo. One interesting fact: Matt Bomer, who was thin to begin with, was so dedicated to this role that he voluntarily lost 40 lbs. to film this and appear ill and gaunt. For gay men my age (I was 19 in 1981) it is quite a difficult watch, as it brings back the fear, panic and sorrow of that time in a very vivid way. Initially nobody knew what caused it, and it didn't even have a name. There were so many crazy theories about what it was, how you got it, how you could prevent it, etc. We eventually found out it was caused by a virus that they named HIV, and that one of the reasons it was able to spread for so long was that you can have the virus in your bloodstream for years before turning symptomatic. In the early days, there were no tests for it, so you could be spreading for years without even knowing. Once testing became available, it really started to help with awareness. I remember getting my first test--it was terrifying, and you had to wait about 10 days for the result. Anyway, enough of my ramblings! Thanks again and very best to you, Fabi! Have a wonderful week! P.S. Please feel free to ignore this suggestion, but I had the thought that you could put a post in your YouTube community section that you have a Patreon-exclusive reaction to The Normal Heart and leave a link to your Patreon. Who knows, could get you another subcriber or two. Just a thought. (I'll shut up for real now, lol.)
Scott aka Blue62
2024-02-26 03:26:17 +0000 UTCNo worries--I knew you would want to know about it!
Scott aka Blue62
2024-02-25 23:27:44 +0000 UTCScott, I'm so sorry! I've re-uploaded it, and should be playing fine! Thanks for pointing it out.
Fabian Gonzalez
2024-02-25 07:53:44 +0000 UTCEDIT: Fabi--I just clicked to hear your intro and for the first 2:28 there is no sound. Luckily the sound seems to be there for the reaction itself and your conclusion. Thank you so much for doing this, Fabi! I have not watched your reaction yet. I need to get into the right head space in order to do so. Will comment again once I watch your reaction.
Scott aka Blue62
2024-02-24 20:47:14 +0000 UTC
