The Lazarus Effect (2010)

Interesting facts

The Lazarus Effect is a 2010 documentary film about the positive impact of free antiretroviral drug therapy on HIV/AIDS patients in Africa. It was directed by Lance Bangs, and executive produced by Spike Jonze, after an organizer from AIDS awareness group Red suggested the project to them. The film features patients and medical staff in Zambia speaking about their experiences and was produced by Red and HBO. It was screened on HBO and Channel 4 in May 2010, and it is also available on YouTube.

Background

Bangs and Jonze made the film after they were contacted by an organizer from AIDS awareness group Red. The organizer suggested they film a documentary in AIDS clinics in Zambia, where one out of seven people is HIV-positive, and one person's daily dose of antiretroviral drugs costs about 40 cents according to Red – a cost which many patients are unable to afford.

Executive producer Jonze asked Bangs to direct the documentary, as Jonze was still busy completing Where the Wild Things Are. Bangs then made three journeys to Africa in 2009 to make the film, determined "to let the people speak for themselves, rather than have a lot of earnest Western talking heads".

Bangs said he was profoundly moved by his experience in Africa: "I had lost friends and teachers to AIDS and AIDS-related illnesses, but at least in the West the drugs are available. In Africa I was shocked at how skeletal our interviewees’ faces were, how their eyes bulged from their sockets.

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