25 to Life
25
to Life
In Theaters November 28th, 2014
Rated PG-13 for PG-13 for action and sci-fi violence
Running time: 87 minutes
Studio: SimonSays Entertainment
Distributor: AaFFRM
Film Review by Kam Williams
Very Good (★★★☆)
When William Brawner was 18 months-old, his single-mom Linda left him in
the care of a suspicious male babysitter against her better judgment while
she went off to class at Howard University. Upon returning home, she found
her baby so scalded by hot water that he needed numerous skin grafts and
blood transfusions.
Doctor’s didn’t buy the babysitter’s story that it was all the result of an
accident. And the proof in the pudding rested in the fact that the creep
quickly slipped out of town before subsequently disappearing from the radar
entirely.
Unfortunately for William, this tragedy transpired in the early Eighties at
the dawn of the AIDS epidemic, well before the medical community became
aware of how to protect the country’s tainted blood supply. Consequently, he
contracted HIV from one of his transfusions.
Because of the social stigma then associated with AIDS, his mother decided
to studiously hide Bill’s positive HIV status over the course of his
childhood. Furthermore, since the guilty woman had no idea how long he might
live, she also proceeded to spoil him rotten, admittedly raising a monster
the rest of the world was going to have to deal with.
For, Bill eventually blossomed into quite the handsome ladies’ man. And
while he did inform his high school sweetheart, Natasha, that he was
infected, he never told any of the 20+ classmates he slept with when he
followed in his mother’s footsteps to Howard.
He even had unprotected sex with some of those sisters, and was almost outed
by his angry ex-girlfriend who sent an anonymous letter to the President of
the University, warning, “Bill Brawner is HIV+ and infecting everyone at
your school.” But the roaming Romeo’s culpable response was to never again
share his status with anyone, though he would remain promiscuous.
Finally, in 2006, William confessed to his shameless behavior by going on
the radio to reveal to the world once and for all that he was HIV+. In
addition, he founded a Haven Youth center, a healthcare facility offering
infected teens treatment and counseling.
Directed by Mike Brown, 25 to Life is reverential biopic that revisits all
of the above, opting to present Bill in a positive light despite his risky
behavior with a string of sex partners. Granted, it’s great that he
ultimately embraced honesty and even settled down and got married, but it
would’ve been nice to hear from his former conquests to learn how they felt
about being used and whether they’ve tested positive for the AIDS virus.
A cautionary tale about a charming predator dispensing
potentially-lethal demon seed.