Local drama about HIV screens Sunday at the Tivoli
By Chris King Of the St. Louis American
If you go see the local film Ruzzian Roulette Sunday night at The Tivoli – and you should – you might think that director Ronnell (Falaq) Bennett and co-producer and co-writer Steven (Rukahs) Brownridge are psychic.
Set in St. Louis, the film follows the controversy and tragedy that follow in the wake of a promiscuous brother who knowingly spreads HIV. You might think these guys got an early jump on the Anthony Stiles rumors – until the closing credits roll, when the filmmakers connect their story to Darnell “Bossman” McGee, who exposed some 100 area girls and women to HIV and infected at least 30 of them after he was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1992 and before he was shot to death in 1997.
Falaq and Rukah are local hip-hoppers associated with The Apostlez, whose smoking track “Ruzzian Roulette” gives the film its name and supplies the keynote to a thumping soundtrack. Music saturates the movie, which intercuts a dramatic narrative with documentary, music video and barbershop talk. It’s an original and effective mix of elements, which keeps the 84-minute piece from dragging.
The film is shot, mostly by Falaq, hand-held on digital video. As such, it has the immediacy, flexibility and energy of hand-held shooting, which certainly suits the storyline. It’s also jittery, rough and raw.
The filmmakers get great acting from a local and mostly amateur cast assembled by Alice Spencer. Everyone is equal to their assignment, though special mention is merited for Morrell Roberts, who plays DayDay (the Bossman character), and the duo of Aswad A. Brantley and Falaq himself, who play two homies, Tripp and Hassan, who set out to kill DayDay after he infects the sister of one guy and the girl of the other.
An honorable mention goes out to Joel P. King, who gets the tough assignment (in this largely homophobic scene) of playing Lye, the dude on the down low.
Ruzzian Roulette, however, does not dwell much on the down low. It’s really about the heterosexual HIV epidemic in the black community, and it could work (as the recent Stiles rumors served) as a wake-up call that gets people running for an HIV test.
Since the film aims to educate, change behavior and ultimately save lives, a few points about HIV should be clarified, because the film – as a dramatic piece, not a medical lecture – is unclear about them.
First, a person infected with HIV transmits HIV (a virus), not AIDS, which is a medical syndrome. AIDS – which is more properly described as “advanced HIV disease” – may or may not develop from HIV infection, and typically takes many years to develop.
Characters in the film understand HIV infection to be a death sentence, which was more true in Bossman’s day than it is today, now that (very expensive) retroviral medications have been developed that can give an HIV-positive person a normal lifespan, if the virus is detected early enough and treated systematically.
This makes frequent HIV testing crucial for any person who has multiple sexual partners (or a partner who has multiple sexual partners). Knowing your status could save your life – and, of course, keep you from unknowingly spreading the virus to others.
Just to preach a little more, HIV testing detects an antibody that is produced in reaction to the virus, which can take three months up to a year after infection to be detected by testing. That’s one reason the virus lends itself so easily to an epidemic. A monster like Bossman or the fictional DayDay could infect you, and you could not know you were infected for three months or more.
It’s not easy to convey this kind of detailed information in a film without losing your audience’s attention. Falaq and Rukahs deserve credit for delivering a good amount of useful information, while keeping us entertained. Above all, they get the conversation started. It would be a good idea if we keep it going.
We also need to keep wearing condoms (or insisting male partners wear condoms) and keep getting tested for HIV, over and over again. Nobody wants to become an HIV casualty – or, worse, an accidental Bossman or DayDay.
Ruzzian Roulette shows at 9:30 p.m. Sunday, July 22, at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar Blvd. as part of the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, produced by Cinema St. Louis.
Tickets are $10 each; $8 for students with valid and current photo ID and for Cinema St. Louis members. Advance tickets are on sale now at the Tivoli (5-10 p.m. Monday-Friday and 2-10 p.m. Saturday-Sunday).
For more information, visit www.cinemastlouis.org.