My Review - In Our Blood
Complete series on ABC I view
My Rating 9/10
In Our Blood is a very clever concept to present a vital part of Queer History with a combination of fact and fiction in a four part series.
The characters are fictitious but the events that propelled Australia into leading the rest of the World by its example of progressive and responsible Community involvement in fighting the battle to minimise deaths in the AIDS HIV Pandemic are fact.
Thousands of lives were spared because of our prompt and sometimes controversial and radical approaches.
Another very clever technique in this production are the story tellers in the style of a Greek Chorus taking the viewer through the timeline of the early to late 1980's with music humour and dance which I think makes In Our Blood an entertainment as well as a thoughtful docu drama .
It's a very impressive ensemble of fine Australian actors including Tim Draxyl
cast as David a researcher and Political assistant to the Federal Labour Minister for Health . His career takes David away from his Sydney home and Colombian partner and lover Gabe played so well by Oscar Leal .
When these boys are together they enjoy all the excitement music and colour of Sydney's Oxford Street bar scene revelling with friends and just living for today.
David's boss the Federal Health Minister played by Matt Day shares his concern in the continuing health updates from America that document a so called Gay Plague that is responsible for multiple deaths and spreading rapidly .
Unfortunately the White House Administration is practically ignoring the epidemic with then President Ronald Reagan not even delivering a major address on AIDS till May 31st 1987 even though it has been written up in The Medical Journals in 1981.
It was perceived by many to be just a disease affecting the Gay community or IV drug users .
Some even going as far as saying it was God reeking vengeance on their hedonistic life style however red alerts sounded when reports of women and baby's who had blood transfusions began to filter down .
In Our Blood details a lesser-known section of that history: the Australian response to Aids, which saw an unprecedented collaboration between gay activist groups and both state and federal governments.
The great thing about our local film and television industry now is that fine actors like Tim Draxyl and most of this cast can experience excellent career success without having to venture abroad .
The series is a credit to the ABC and Screen Australia in producing this excellent series with great skill and great talent.
This activism depicted in this series was responsible for the effective grim reaper add campaigns plus the public funding of Community groups like ACON and the Bobby Goldsmith organisation named after the Australian athlete and Gay Olympic swimmer who died in June 1984 of (AIDS) acquired immune deficiency syndrome .
Both these charities are still working tirelessly 40 years on assisting people living with HIV in a very different environment to the 1980's when AIDS was a death sentence.
There are many impressive performances in In Our Blood it was obviously a labour of love for script writers and storytellers Jane Allen, Adriano Cappelletta and Jonathan Gavin who all have many impressive screen credits to these names.
Directors John Sheedy and Nicholas Verso have steered a very steady course that is a tribute to a generation who left us far too early.
Of course In Our Blood is emotional and confronting it bought back some sad unhappy memories for us from that era when we said goodbye to many dea4 friends but there is optimism also in this very compelling and provocative series.
It's a rare portrayal of Government working with Community to improve the life of its citizens hopefully the same spirit will occur when we vote on our upcoming referendum,.
