Undetectable (2001)

Filmed over three years, this award-winning film examines the complex physical and psychological effects of the multi-drug therapies for HIV disease on three women and three men of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. "Undetectable" looks to the next stage of the AIDS crisis: how those affected deal for the first time with hope, and how the fortunate number who respond to the drugs face both a grueling treatment regimen and the challenge of rebuilding their lives during a reprieve from what was formerly a death sentence. For many there are devastating side effects; one in five copes with the desperation and frustration that accompanies the failure of therapy. "Undetectable" breaks through the varying reactions of numbness, complacency and indifference that predominate in today's attitudes towards the HIV epidemic, dealing a body blow to the casual conclusions of too many that "AIDS is over." It aims to heighten awareness, promote safer behaviors, and encourage more compassionate attitudes by graphically demonstrating the new but still dreadful reality of this disease. No one who watches it can doubt that the world still faces an unprecedented public health emergency.