In honor of World AIDS Day, here are 5 movies that taught all of us about AIDS.  They are all narrative (there are tons of amazing docs out there though) and are all very different.  Enjoy the list and let me know if I missed any.

Also, be sure to takepart with the World AIDS Campaign

5) Before Night Falls - The story of real life  Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas is one of hope and one of living your life for what you believe in.  It’s also a story that ends with a man dying of AIDS. Julian Schnabel’s story captures the beauty of Arenas’ life and thus puts meaning and emphasis on how he died - making this is a film that not only teaches us all how to live but also about AIDS.  The ending is quite dark (and is after the jump)

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4) Safe and Posion (Todd Haynes) - The word AIDS may never be mentioned in Todd Haynes’ Safe but the story of a housewife who gets an “environmental illness” and whose body rebels against chemicals has the disease written over much of the film - as Janet Maslin in the NY Times writes “The shadow of AIDS implicitly hangs over such a decline.”  A film about disease, Safe, is a horror film that stays with you for a very long time.

Poison opens with these words - “The whole world is dying of panicky fright” - which to me says enough.

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3) KIDS - The imdb description of Kids is as follows: “An amoral, HIV-positive skateboarder sets out to deflower as many virgins as possible while a local girl who contracted his disease tries to save his next target from her same fate.”  A tough movie about the vulnerability of childhood and growing up too fast.

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2) Angels in America - HBO’s brilliant mini-series captures AIDS from every angle during the mid 80’s.  He captures the crisis of the disease and the humanity behind us all.

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1) Philadelphia - Tom Hank’s portrayal of Andrew Beckett, a lawyer with AIDS who sues his law firm after they fire him touched do many people and brought AIDS into so many homes.  This wasn’t a movie for folks who knew about the disease - it was made for those who didn’t and in turn taught a country about it.