MOVIE • 2011

Side Effect Happiness

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Wolfgang and Roland are 72 and 58 years old and have lived together in Berlin since 11 years. They say, that today their life is happier and more fulfilled, than it was 25 years ago, before they met and neither Wolfgang, nor Roland knew, that they are HIV Positiv. Before the Virus, they lived an unremarkable middle-class life. They had a job and forgotten, faded or suppressed artistic ambitions. Back when they grew up and first discovered their affections towards men, homosexuality was still considered a felony in Germany. Both are deeply moved when they tell us how the Virus irrupted their lives. How it changed everything. They buried their lovers, too many friends and lost their jobs. For them, as for the many thousands infected in the 80's, a survival seemed hopeless. The virus dominated their lives and the numerous side effects of the first medications robbed their vital force and dignity. Today all this hardly meets the eye anymore.