La vie malgré tout

I watched this last night on the Lifetime Movie Network. I cried and cried and cried. Vinnie's outlook on life, and the way he was able to handle all this bad stuff happening to him and his family is just amazing. I would only hope I could be as half as strong. Makes me thankful for my health and the health of my family. I had to remind myself of the year this movie was made, as a couple of their close friends no longer had contact with them after they became ill. Frustrating as the husband was a doctor and should of known better. If you watch this make sure you have tissues on hand!! I definitely recommend it.

The main reason I watched this film was because of Agatha Cristies movie with the name of 'And then there was none'. But this is a completely different senerio and a very special movie. The acting is superb, the directing is excellent as well. It is a very emotional movie that will remain in the subconscious for what seems like forever.Once this movie is viewed the person will never be the same. When they feel like they are the only people in the world who is going through such a personal tragedy,(whatever it may be at that time in their lives) this film will resurface and you will think of all those with deadly afflictions that have virtually no way out. I have personally looked for this film for myself for over five years now, would appreciate anyone who knows where I can buy it to contact me through email. Thanks.

Excellent movie based on true story. I love it! Roxy Ventola McGrath died of complications due to AIDS on November 14, 1994. Survived by her husband Matthew McGrath, her parents Esther and Salvatore Abramo, her brother Jack and by merlin the beagle.

Roxy made us promise to keep fighting. She told Mary to continue to be loud and rude and in people's faces! She told her to keep doing AIDS activism and AIDS work in whatever capacity that she could be effective for as long as she is healthy enough. Roxy tried to comfort all her HIV positive friends by telling them not to worry, that science would find something that actually worked by the time it was their turn. Roxy wanted all her friends with HIV/AIDS not to be afraid of dying. She said "It's not so bad, well.... it's bad, but it's not as bad as you think it's going to be. It's not as scary as you think it's going to be." Roxy was a great advocate for peer counseling and peer support programs as you can see from her agency affiliations listed below. She would often remark about how she hated the "neggies" (a term she used to describe HIV negative people) trying to tell people with AIDS how they should feel or what they should do and how nice they should be to their care providers. She hated it when negative people would try to hone in on peer support groups to "observe" or offer "pity". "No neggies allowed!" she would say, "this is about us". The 1994 movie described the events which led to the deaths of her husband, Vinny, and infant daughter, Miranda Rose. They both died from AIDS in 1991. In 1993, Roxy was remarried to AIDS activist, Matthew McGrath.

Amy Madigan played the part of Roxy and won an Emmy for her outstanding performance. In her acceptance speech she gave tribute to the Ventola family and mentioned that Roxy had since passed away. Roxy's play, "After the Bomb" about a post-AIDS world, was produced in the spring of 1994 at Open Fist Theater in Los Angeles. She also performed in the Michael Kerns play, "AIDS, US Women: Silent NO More." She was: President of the Board of Women At Risk, a support service for women with HIV/AIDS; a co-founding member of Women Alive, a peer group run by and for women volunteers with HIV/AIDS; a founding member of Friends for Life, a support service for heterosexuals with HIV/AIDS; and an active member of of ACT UP/LA. In 1991, Roxy was a staff writer for the sit-com, "Sunday Dinner," produced by Norman Lear. She worked as a reporter/producer at WNET in New York from 1973-77. She created a pilot project for PBS on working class America called "US". She moved to Los Angeles, and worked at KNXT and KCET as a magazine show producer. Her journalism awards include a local Emmy for Best Documentary, "Art Therapy", and an award from Radio 8 TV News Association of Southern California in 1978.

I thought this movie was a very sad and touching movie-- but one part of it really annoyed me-- the beginning where the woman (with her parents sitting right there) makes a big production of "giving herself away." at her wedding. Now, I understand when women don't want to be "given away." in the traditional sense, but there are MANY ways to begin a wedding-- including having both bride AND groom escorted down the aisle by their parents. Other cultures do things such as having the bride and groom escort each other, as was done in my brother and sister in laws wedding in Russia. The way it was done in this movie seemed to me to feel like something was being thrown in our faces.

Its about ten years since this film was released and just recently re-shown on Hallmark cable; its an intense, well written drama with excellent performances from, in particular, the main actors. A happy relatively young couple with a new born baby are then faced with their own death in distressing circumstances.It surely must be the most difficult of arts for any actor or actress to play such a scenario but its done here with conviction, skill and some humor. I found this movie compelling throughout and that is thanks to the way the whole picture was made and presented. Of course it ain't a comedy, and no movie, no matter how good, can truly portray the full depths of human tragedy but can reflect some snippits of it. And this film does exactly that, and is worthy of at least an 8 out of 10.