Synopsis
In developed countries, thanks to the availability of anti-retroviral treatments, HIV/AIDS is no longer the death sentence it used to be. It has become another chronic but manageable condition. Yet in developing countries these life saving treatments are priced way beyond the reach of anybody except the extremely wealthy. Pharmaceutical companies use international patent laws to charge inflated prices on drugs, which are cheap to produce.
“The Bottom Line” explores this tragic situation through following a diversity of HIV positive people’s lives in South Africa. Told in a visually intimate way the personal stories highlight the real life drama between death and ruthless commerce. These are tales and struggle and courage told within the context of the greed and excessive profiteering of multi- national drug companies.
AIDS goes beyond the very personal fact that a virus is replicating in your body, it starkly highlights social, political, economic and global issues.
South
Africa 52min 2000
