Just an Illness

'I think cancer is just an illness, I think tuberculosis is just an illness, I think AIDS is just an illness. But we know that certain illnesses become the vessels of fantasy and anxiety: they become metaphoric.' The arrival of AIDS has uncovered fears and prejudices which have been associated with plagues and epidemics throughout history. With so much dread surrounding it, how can people find their way to a rational assessment of the disease? In this richly-textured film, Susan Sontag, the distinguished American writer, joins with Jonathan Miller, Bishop Richard Holloway and others to explore these dark images and to look for a way out of them.