Fig Trees

2009
7| 1h40m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 09 February 2009 Released
Producted By:
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.yorku.ca/greyzone/figtrees/
Info

FIG TREES is a documentary opera about AIDS activists Tim McCaskell of Toronto and Zackie Achmat of Capetown as they fight for access to treatment drugs. Documentary interviews, speeches, press conferences and demonstrations are sampled, taken apart, and set to music, replayed this time as operatic scenes. A surreal fictional narrative is intercut with the stories of their struggles against government and the pharmaceutical industry. In this fictional world, Gertrude Stein decides to write a tragic opera about Tim and Zackie and their saint-like heroism. She kidnaps them, transports them to Niagara Falls, and forces them to sing a series of complicated avant-garde vocal compositions. However, when Zackie ends his treatment strike and starts taking his pills, Gertrude realizes that there will be no more tragedy, and thus, no more opera.

Watch Online

Fig Trees (2009) is currently not available on any services.

Cast

Director

John Greyson

Production Companies

Fig Trees Videos and Images
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Fig Trees Audience Reviews

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.