THE CURE
US, 1995, 97 minutes, Colour.
Brad Renfro, Joseph Mazzello, Annabella Sciorra, Diana Scarwid.
Directed by Peter Horton.
With the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, there were many films about AIDS, infections, illness, death.
This is a film from the mid 1990s, the focus on AIDS but nothing to do with homosexuality (except the taunts made against those who had AIDS from other sources and those who supported them).
The central characters are two boys, one 11, the other13, who become friends. The 11-year-old, played by Joseph Mazzello, has been infected from a blood transfusion, is very weak, cared for by his loving mother, Annabella Sciorra. On the other side of the fence lives a 13-year-old boy with his mother, Brad Renfro and Diana Skye went, Eric, who is taunted and bullied by boys at school. They begin to talk from each side of the back fence, Eric finally climbing over, meeting Dexter, their playing games together, developing a friendship.
Eric is concerned about Dexter’s health and is interested in trying out cures for AIDS, experimenting with candy, with leaves and herbs, to no effect. When they see an advertisement on television about a cure in New Orleans, they decide to go there, run away but when Dexter collapses, they return home. They are pursued by some young men and scare them off by threatening them with Dexter’s infected blood.
Eric’s mother forbids him to contact Dexter but, when Dexter eventually dies in hospital, cared for by his sympathetic doctor played by Bruce Davison, Dexter’s mother confronts Eric’s mother quite forcibly.
The film was directed by actor Peter Horton who moved more into directing, especially television.
No solution, sadness at her funeral, but fine exploration of friendship.
1. The title, the status of AIDS and infection in the 1990s? Medication, hospital treatment, research? Promotion of false cures? Hopes? Infection by blood transfusion?
2. The setting, the United States, the town, homes , in the street, school, the roads and the countryside, the bus trip, the hospital? The musical score?
3. The focus on Eric, his age, relationship with his mother, her strictness, absent father, her continually being at work? At school, his being bullied, called a faggot? At home, in the garden, his games and toys, military, hearing Dexter on the other side of the fence, talking, climbing, meeting? The response to AIDS, bond with Dexter, playing the games, their imaginations, the development of the friendship? The fearless denunciation – yet his throwing the stone? Dexter’s mother, sharing with her, the difficulties with his own mother, her forbidding him contact with Dexter, her fear? Talking, the issues of health, the attempted cures, with the candy, with the potions of the leaves, Dexter being ill? The television, information about a cure, the decision to go to New Orleans, hitchhiking, the trek, confronting the men, the pursuit, the threat with the blood? The bus and the return, Dexter’s collapse, his mother meeting the bus, taken to hospital – and the two of them playing at being dead and the reactions? Eric’s grief, the bond with his mother, preparing for the funeral, taking the shoe and let it sail down the river?
4. Dexter, eleven, small, delicate, the blood transfusion, the care of his mother, their playing games, her calling him Sweetie? Talking with Eric, meeting, play together, the meals, the experiments with the different cures, the decision to go to New Orleans, sthreatening the men with his blood, the retreat, the collapse, the return, his mother? In hospital, the discussions with the doctor, playing at being dead? His actual death?
5. The picture of his mother, devoted, care, her friendship with Eric, encouraging him with Dexter, the confrontation with Eric’s mother, calling her out? Dexter’s death, the hospital, the funeral? Eric and his taking the shoe?
6. Eric’s mother, hard life, working, harsh, the fear of AIDS, Dexter’s mother and the confrontation?
7. Hospital, the staff, the sympathetic doctor, his talking with Dexter, offering hope?
8. The local kids, the bullying, faggots and being homophobic, AIDS, rectifying, their backing down?
9. The impact of the film in the 1990s, the prevalence of AIDS? A film for parents, children?
10. And underlying this, a strong film of friendship?
