Miami Herald, - FRI September 15 1989
Elinor Burkett - Herald Staff Writer

"We as a nation must make the public aware about this devastating epidemic," said Moshe Israel, president of Mochon, Inc., the Miami-based production company that made the film.

"We're not dealing with AIDS in an exploitative way," promised producer Kimberly Rubin, "but to educate people." But what the viewer learns about the disease is not only minimal, it's often misleading.

The Victims is built around an implausible chain reaction of transmission of the AIDS virus in which a man -- the movie hints at his drug use -- infects Andrea Wilson in a single night of vaginal intercourse. Unaware of her infection, Andrea has another single night of vaginal intercourse with the film's hero, Paul Genesco, who becomes infected and, in turn, infects his wife, Liz.

"I'm not saying that the scenario is absolutely impossible," said Dr. Fred Darbouze, a health educator for the Miami-based League Against AIDS who saw the film this week at a screening attended by more than 50 area AIDS experts. "But it is highly, highly improbable.

"According to this film, HIV is a highly potent virus that is easily transmitted, and that simply is not true."

The likelihood of transmission of the virus from a man to a woman through a single act of vaginal intercourse is one in 500, but the probability of transmission from a woman to a man is estimated at one in 1,000 -- one in 2,000 if the man is circumcised -- according to a major study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In fact, many AIDS experts point out that despite those statistics, there have been few, if any, proven cases in the United States of the AIDS virus being passed from women to men by vaginal intercourse.

The makers of the film do try to erase the most perilous stereotype about AIDS: that only homosexuals, freaks and drug users -- not beautiful, sexy, successful and definitely heterosexual women such as Andrea or Liz -- contract AIDS.

"The film is very useful," said David Withum, coordinator of AIDS programs for Health and Rehabilitative Services in Miami. "It reminds the public that no one is immune."

But the film contributes to the misconception that AIDS patients -- who hate to be called victims, preferring the appellation PWA, for People With AIDS -- fall under a curse that lays them at death's door from the moment they fall ill.

"Do you realize what this means?" Paul asks Andrea when she breaks the news to him. "I'm going to die because of this." And nowhere is that first, emotional reaction contradicted.

In the real world, only 54 percent of HIV-positive people develop the disease within a decade of their infection, according to the research at the epidemiological center at San Francisco General Hospital. Recent medical advances, especially the development of treatments that slow the growth of the virus and prevent the development of pneumocystis pneumonia -- the major killer of PWAs -- may reduce that figure.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that we can begin to think of HIV infection -- and even AIDS -- as a chronic, manageable disease," said Gary Steinsmith after seeing the film. He is a board member at Center One, a comprehensive facility for AIDS patients in Fort Lauderdale.

In cities where adequate health services are provided, the average life expectancy for a PWA is almost two years, according to estimates by the federal Centers for Disease Control. That is hardly consistent with the image of poor Andrea, lovely and lively one day, one foot in the grave the next.

"It happens, we've all seen people who were fine one week and dead the next," said Steinsmith. "It used to be common. But it certainly isn't the way things generally are these days."

The filmmakers do make passing references to the improbability of the scenario they have created. Paul Genesco's physician tells him that a single sexual act is unlikely to cause infection. But that message gets lost in the plot.

The physician even reminds Paul that he may never develop the disease, but there is nothing that shows him or his wife receiving any of the treatments that HIV-infected individuals can get to decrease the likelihood of developing AIDS.

There are moments of truth in the film, especially in its depiction of the pain and confusion of the individual who has just received positive test results. When Liz swallows her shame and gathers the courage to visit a social worker at the AIDS center, she becomes a familiar face to nurses and counselors who work with AIDS patients. In her sense of seclusion and isolation, in her fear that her best friend will reject her, Liz has more in common with most people newly diagnosed with the AIDS virus.

"I feel like I know her very well," said Marie Jose Simeon, a counselor at the League Against AIDS. "I've seen her a hundred times."

What counselors haven't seen often is the response Liz and Paul find when they confront their friends. They are embraced, kissed and cuddled.

The Victims might be a luridly sexual love story, but it is not the AIDS education it pretends to be. If you don't want to catch AIDS, there are plenty of measures you can take to reduce your risk. You can avoid intercourse entirely -- or at least intercourse without a condom -- and steer clear of intravenous drugs. But, film publicity to the contrary, seeing The Victims isn't likely to provide you much protection.

CAPTION: PHOTO Sherrie Rose and Roger Pretto in 'The Victims' a story about AIDS (MOTION PICTURE--V)
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