‘The Cure’ Deserves Praise

Movie reviewer Kevin Thomas assaults the sensitive feature “The Cure,” saying it “has too many loose ends, too much that hasn’t been thoroughly thought out” (Calendar, April 21). While the film may bend the usual paint-by-numbers rules of movie making, I found it a wonderfully enlightening exploration into the relationship of a young boy with AIDS (Dexter) and his new and only friend (Erik), a seemingly insensitive young man with a compassionless, abusive alcoholic mother.

Thomas felt compelled to learn the actual location of the action and the reasons for the boys’ mothers’ move to the small town. My curiosities revolved around the boys’ developing relationship and their treatment by other children.

For geography buffs like Thomas, I had a fairly good idea of the film’s locale upon learning that the boys would have to travel 1,200 miles down the Mississippi to reach New Orleans. If this was too vague, I’m surprised that he did not deliberately search out the River Falls, Minn., bus depot sign that appears later in the film.

In regards to young Erik accepting HIV-infected Dexter with a “credibility-defying rapidity,” why wouldn’t an abused, friendless youngster immediately bond with another lonely outcast?

Thomas also reasons that writer Robert Kuhn does not address the issue that gay persons-with-AIDS should be entitled to the same rights as straight PWAs. If such is the case, why did Dexter abruptly leave for the day when Erik made fun of the “homos” with AIDS?

The final flaw, according to Thomas, revolves around these “exceptionally bright and articulate lads” and their quest, despite parental skepticism, to follow a tabloid lead across country to a supposed “cure.” I am a Big Brother/friend of a 15-year-old PWA. And if I believed an actual AIDS cure were discovered across country, I would drop everything, pull out my Visa and run up my credit to take my young friend on a trip to save his life.

MARTIN WEISS

Santa Monica