Search - Common Threads - Stories from the Quilt on DVD

The Fabric of Love

J. Michael Click | Fort Worth, Texas United States | 10/17/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This emotionally stunning film deservedly won the 1989 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Friends and family tell the stories of five disparate individuals whose lives are lovingly represented by panels in the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt: David Mandell, Jr., an 11-year-old hemophiliac; Dr. Tom Waddell, Olympic athlete and organizer of the Gay Games; Robert Perryman, a former drug addict turned proud husband and father; Jeffrey Sevchik, the lover of film historian, author, and gay activist Vito Russo; and David C. Campbell, a gay "everyman" whose story is touchingly told by his dying partner, Lt. Commander Tracey Torrey. The threads of these persons' courageous battles with AIDS are interwoven with archival news footage detailing the history of the disease's spread throughout America, and examples of how the United States government and public did - or perhaps more accurately, often did not - respond to the growing crisis. The film ends with the surviving loved ones describing the experiences of making the Quilt panels, and then details the first national exhibition of the Quilt in Washington, D. C. in October 1987. (The Quilt was last displayed in Washington in 1996, and had grown to over twenty times the size shown here.)The raw emotions of the storytellers are incredibly powerful in their purity and honesty; it's impossible not to be moved to tears as David Mandell's father speaks of his child's last Christmas, or Russo tells the story of visiting his partner's body in the morgue. The film footage is beautifully supported by Dustin Hoffman's eloquent narration (his voice has never been so convicted yet quietly subdued in any of his film roles), and hauntingly underscored by the music of Bobby McFerrin performed by Voicestra."Common Threads" is an absolutely must-see film that not only reveals the human face of HIV and AIDS, and gives voice to those who are left behind to grieve in the wake of death and suffering. With each scene, the movie also offers larger evidence of humanity's capacity to cope with devastating tragedy; to express compassion and selflessness; and above all else, to love wholly and unconditionally through even the worst of circumstances."

Please don't forget us by not putting this on DVD

Russell C. Campbell | Seattle, WA USA | 01/28/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am probably one of the few people that has this on LaserDisc. I was extremely touched by the dedication to this video. It was self evident in the quality of the sound and video, as well as the choice of narrators and musical background.The Times of Harvey Milk has probably topped this one, but the AIDS crisis has not gone away. Please ... please publish this one on DVD. Thanks.rcc"

Stories of Life

James Hiller | Beaverton, OR | 08/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman are two of the finest documentarians we have around today. From making one of the best documentaries ever, "The Times of Harvey Milk", to the cutting edge "Celluloid Closet", their movies chronicle grand times and the people that are behind those times. Another tour de force work is their response to the horrific AIDS crisis, in the movie "Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt".

Wanting to make a film that accompanied the amazing paneled quilt that was being created as a response to ignored AIDS epidemic. Epstein and Friedman decided to highlight the people behind the quilt. They read thousands of letters, met people, and selected seven stories to highlight, which make up the crux of the film. Sallie Perryman, who's husband drug use brought on the disease, to Vito Russo talking about his best friend, the people speak of their loved ones on film, and their ensuing sickness, with honesty and compassion. In addtion, the filmmakers included archival footage, tracing the development of the disease, in a somewhat shocking and insensitive way at first. By the time the quilt is unfolded, you are moved, and touched by these people's lives, so that if you didn't know anyone who was on the AIDS quilt, you knew seven people now.

Common Threads won the Academy award for best Documentary, and deservedly so. This a film that should be celebrated, and remembered, as a visual love note to all of those souls that we lost to AIDS."

Amazing

aitapata | Florida | 04/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a heartbreaking and amazing documentary. Do not neglect to watch the special features. Vito Russo's ACT UP Speech alone is worth the price of this dvd."