HIV & AIDS

Winner of a Silver Apple at the 1992 National Educational Film Festival, this British production of the Leicester Health Authority uses striking computer animation to demonstrate how the HIV virus works. It also offers a sound overview of the ways the virus is transmitted, explains the distinctions between HIV and AIDS, and discusses the available methods for testing and protecting oneself from the possibility of contracting the HIV virus. The video is divided into several segments including: transmission, biology, disease, tests, treatments, and prevention. Viewers are not only cautioned about which activities are unsafe, they're also shown through graphic illustrations precisely what those activities are. This material is handled in a professional, even medical, manner. Later on, the program uses computer animation to demonstrate one of the most recently discovered and disturbing aspects of the HIV virus (namely that it is very changeable, and therefore unlikely to be successfully treated with a single cure-all). Here, the language becomes fairly technical which may put off some viewers (but others will be grateful to hear a detailed scientific explanation accompanied by excellent animated graphics which allow them to visualize how the virus enters cells, replicates itself, and travels throughout the body). Although the program is dated 1991, the information is up-to-date (especially considering the fact that it comes from a medical research facility), and presented well. Except for a non-graphic but fairly silly simulated sex scene and the fact that not all laypeople will grasp everything that is presented on the tape, HIV & AIDS is really an exceptional program and highly recommended. (Available from: S & T Video, P.O. Box 2037, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270; (619) 3244886.)