The Normal Heart

Larry Kramer wrote his play The Normal Heart—about the early years of the AIDS crisis in New York City—in 1985, a time when thousands of gay men were dying, the mainstream media shied away from reporting on the "plague" (as it was called then), and government officials would not even utter the word “AIDS” in public. Director Ryan Murphy collaborated with Kramer on this HBO-aired adaptation, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie. Mark Ruffalo stars as Ned Weeks, a writer and activist modeled on Kramer, while Taylor Kitsch, Jim Parsons, and Joe Mantello costar as fellow activists who find Ned's tactics too confrontational. Matt Bomer is Ned's boyfriend, a closeted New York Times reporter, and Julia Roberts is a doctor committed to understanding the still-unidentified disease. As much polemic as it is social drama, The Normal Heart nevertheless effectively captures the fear and fury of the men in the community who were facing a deadly crisis that the government refused to even acknowledge. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “How to Start a War” segment on the real-life historical events that inspired the play and film (10 min.). Bottom line: a small extras package for a solid adaptation of Kramer's play.] (S. Axmaker)