Yesterday (1 December 2015) was World AIDS Day and as a result I spent a lot of time thinking about how far we have come in breaking down the fear and misunderstandings which surround AIDS. Of course, we're not there yet, and there is still a level of ignorance which continues to surround HIV and AIDS.
I wanted to watch something backward-looking, with a focus on the struggles faced by queer communities in the 1980s. I settled for the award-winning three part Swedish TV drama, 'Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves' (Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar) which takes its haunting title from the opening scene where a nurse wipes the tears from the face of a dying AIDS patient without her gloves. The series focuses on the impact of AIDS on Stockholm's gay community and is based on a series of novels by Jonas Gardell, called 'Love', 'Disease' and 'Death'.
I wanted to watch something backward-looking, with a focus on the struggles faced by queer communities in the 1980s. I settled for the award-winning three part Swedish TV drama, 'Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves' (Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar) which takes its haunting title from the opening scene where a nurse wipes the tears from the face of a dying AIDS patient without her gloves. The series focuses on the impact of AIDS on Stockholm's gay community and is based on a series of novels by Jonas Gardell, called 'Love', 'Disease' and 'Death'.