Of Shame and Coffins

Iranian director Maziar Bahari made this film in Kwazulu Natal in Africa. He interviewed many people who have been told that they are HIV-positive. These unfortunate people, mainly women, are exposed to horrible humiliation and misery. Society completely ignores them. They mostly receive treatment in hospitals only a few days before they die. In many cases, the family does not want infected persons to stay with them. They blame them for getting ill and throw them out. AIDS activists are even killed or threatened. The same happened to the film crew during shooting. The local police refused to protect them. On the one hand, this disturbing reportage shows the doomed being greatly humiliated while, on the other, the big business of undertaking grows, as the need for coffins becomes greater every day.