New York Times - December 1, 2006
Anita Gates

The people behind Poz, a magazine for those who are H.I.V. positive or have full-blown AIDS, wanted a meaningful, attention-getting cover for their 10th-anniversary issue. The staff approached Mr. Tunick, who quickly agreed and donated his services. On an early morning in March 2004 some 85 adults gathered at a restaurant in Manhattan's meatpacking district, removed their clothes and posed for Mr. Tunick's camera. Arlene Donnelly Nelson and David Nelson's moving 38-minute documentary, to be shown tonight on Cinemax to commemorate World AIDS Day, captures the moment gracefully.

Like a lot of their fellow human beings, some of these men and women are a little apprehensive about revealing their naked bodies to total strangers, not to mention the world. One man says he is much more nervous about showing his distended abdomen (a side effect of medical treatment) than his penis. Many seem nervous at first but soon relax into the equality that nakedness creates. Not surprisingly, one man reports "a sense of camaraderie" in the experience.

At first the sight of scores of naked adults milling about and looking confused about what is expected of them bears an unsettling resemblance to a scene from a Holocaust film. But as the photo session proceeds, an energizing dignity takes hold. Neither the documentary nor the magazine cover photograph focuses on genitalia. The scene really does convey, as publicity materials suggest, the spirit within the flesh.

A number of the participants talk about their lives and about having AIDS or simply testing positive for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, which not so long ago meant certain, imminent death. It also often meant ostracism. "Someone came and snatched a kid out of my arms," one woman recalls of a family get-together.

One male couple show their wedding photographs and talk about which of them they hope will die first. But the film also has an air of hope. One man who began taking protease inhibitors, a near miracle in AIDS treatment, says, "Within three days of starting the pills, I felt better."

The only truly disturbing note in "Positively Naked" is one man's revelation that he still goes to sex clubs and does not reveal his H.I.V. status unless asked.

POSITIVELY NAKED

Cinemax, tonight at 7, Eastern and Pacific times; 6, Central time.

Produced and directed by Arlene Donnelly Nelson and David Nelson; Helen Hood Scheer, producer; Jennifer Chaiken, executive producer; edited by Jeff Consiglio; original score by Miriam Cutler; Stephen Kazmierski and Brett Albright, directors of photography; for Cinemax Reel Life: Nancy Abraham, supervising producer; Sheila Nevins, executive producer.

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