Movie Review: The Normal Heart [2014]

The Normal Heart is HBO's new TV movie, directed by Ryan Murphy. It gives a dramatic look at New York gay community during early 80's, when AIDS started killing people, and mostly gay men. It is simply a story of fear, ignorance, informational vacuum, heroism and love. Along with this heartbreaking piece of history, this movie suggest a huge, brilliant cast, including Mark Ruffalo as Ned Weeks, Matt Bomer as his love Felix Turner, Taylor Kitsch as Bruce Niles,  Jim Parsons as Tommy Boatwight and Julia Roberts as Dr. Emma Brookner - the only person who has enough courage to help those dying young men.

Movie opens with sunny beach and dozens of gay men having fun they way any person would have fun on a sunny day, until one of their friends Craig (Jonathan Groff) suddenly collapses. This is where it starts, how they discover that they might be ill and that they are infecting each other. Then we are introduced to Dr. Brookner - a woman in wheelchair who tries her best to study the disease and help her patients, warning everyone to stop having sex. 

The more people die, the bigger panic grows and Ned Weeks turns out to be the guy who decides to speak up about what's going on. First thing he does is asks for help from government, instead of massive ignorance and zero assistance. However, all doors are closed. The only way to make this work is to accuse government in murder of gay men on purpose and here Ned starts a huge war, not only against officials but also against closeted gays, who are dying just because they are silent. 

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