Its My Life : Hina Anwar

The documentary It’s My Life didn’t really keep my attention that much. Parts of it were interesting, but it felt like more of a personal journey than a documentary. I feel like since Zackie  Achmat was the founder of the Treatment Action Campaign for aids that it was a good way to show people that he actually cared about the cause by not getting treatment. However, I also thought it was stupid that he refused to take medicine after he got sick. You can’t be an activist if you’re dead. He was courageous, but stupid at the same time.

It was really shocking that a pharmaceutical company would sue the government because they did not wish to be replaced by cheaper medicines. Pharmaceutical companies are meant to help others and of course they’re supposed to be paid for their hard work, but they shouldn’t be greedy about it. If people need help and it’s available, then it should be available to them no matter whom or where they are.

A weird part of the documentary that really caught my attention was the little flashbacks of a young boy. I don’t think they were needed and they just made no sense. I couldn’t tell if they were actually about his life or just some big metaphor for his sexuality in some way.  

Welcome to the Hillbrow was far more interesting than the documentary. It was really dramatic and most of the deaths happened because of misunderstandings. Lerato sleeps with Refilwe because she thinks Refentše is growing away from her. Refentše in turn kills himself because the woman he loves is sleeping with his best friend. And then finally she kills herself. Its strange to think that a misunderstanding can lead to so many chain reactions and cause others to take drastic actions. The only thing I found in common with the book and the movie was the AIDs issue. There were also the sexual aspects with the prostitutes and the affairs, while the documentary had those strange clips of a little boy being sexually propositioned by a white man. The documentary was just weird and boring.