Documentaries
Us and Them
Us and Them is a story of a 15 year old boy,
wedged between his own little world and a demented society of
prejudices. Abhimanyu, who begins undergoing conspicuous changes in
his body, is recommended a blood test, which reveals that he is !
HIV positive. Unable to comprehend the causality and consequences,
both, at a juvenile age of fifteen, Abhi shrinks in his own cocoon,
only to become a reticent young lad and embarks towards dealing with
an inner strife. Incapable of negotiating life through topical
situations, the adolescent goes through intense psychological and
sociological trauma that leaves him bitter, aloof and dejected. The
orphan finds solace in his widowed aunt who also has the onus to
bring him up and helps him deal with it.
The HIV virus in a way becomes a passage through hell which leads
him towards himself, his life, his aspirations, his desires and his
purpose in life. The film traces this parallel tension building up
inside the same person where the disease is emptying him in a
cadaver and at the same time, the insensitive attitude of
people around leaves him emotionally starved for love and attention.
The personal voyage takes him into his past and his strife to c!
ombat with the demonic virus inside and the stigma outside. From a
frivolous young man, Abhi modifies in a person who dissuades
self-pity and ceases to consider himself, an underdog. He believes
in living his predictable life with a predicament, which would be
governed by aspirations and hard work alone. He visualizes and goads
himself to set objectives against all his physiological limitations.
US AND THEM is a miraculous tale of transfusion of a person waging a
fight with all his fears and limitations through his emotional
strength, hope in cure and an undaunted faith in himself.
Not melodramatic, yet a sensitive interpretation of this boy's
stoicism, US AND THEM is also a glimpse into "the other" world which
exists only by way of societal prejudices. The film is an
observational! report by being on the periphery of these two
communities, segregated and distinguished not by HIV but by
attitudes. The Docu-drama by no chance intends to preach, inform or
educate the audiences about HIV but is a sensitive rendition of a
story, which a percentage of people are living not only in India but
in the whole world, to induce and challenge the rigid, conservative
and prejudicial mindsets. It encourages thinking beyond the ordinary
solutions of cure towards hope through unison and indiscrimination
to fight the HIVvirus.
The film simply questions the ideological stance of people andin a
way appeals for a legitimate existence for these HIV patients.
It's also a tale of building of a character through the traumas of
adolescence and HIV and! at the same time building of a sensitive
and tolerant community of "US" to combat the HIV virus so that it
doesn't culminate into "THEM", a cycle of dreadful diseases that the
HIV patients are susceptible to and leads to AIDS. The film is his
account of bridging the gap between the whirlwind of voices within
him and the haunting silences around him.
http://www.delhilive.com/us_them
