Fauci

America's high-profile immunologist is documented in a standard but informative profile from National Geographic.

Anthony Stephen Fauci

It would not surprise me if some critics gave this film a lower rating than mine. I say that because it is certainly the case that this documentary feature by John Hoffman and Janet Tobias contains nothing that is particularly cinematic (it would have exactly the same impact if seen on television) and because there is no element of innovation in the way in which the material is presented (the format used blending new interviews and archive footage is strictly traditional). Faced by this kind of piece, there are critics who automatically play down its value, but I feel that it is preferable to make clear what is on offer and then assess how competently it is done. Take it for what it is and Fauci works well.

In point of fact responses to this study of Dr Anthony S. Fauci MD may well be influenced by the nationality of the viewer. In the U.S.A. Dr Fauci has long been a well-known figure and consequently this film may for American viewers be retreading familiar ground. But for many who are British it is likely that his name has become known only through his high profile during the current pandemic, that being consequent on his roles as advisor to presidents and as director of the American National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). That being so, for us this film is a chance to catch up on his past history both in general terms (we meet his wife, Christine and one of his three daughters, Jenny) and to learn in some detail about his role in the 1980s and beyond in dealing with the Aids crisis.

This film, which was first contemplated before the outbreak of Covid 19, is for the most part admiring of Dr. Fauci and it persuades us that this is his due even though it does not hide what a controversial figure he can be. In the 1980s gay activists targeted him for the lack of urgency in combating HIV just as today his views of Covid incorporating strong support for vaccinations have led to extremist death threats to the man himself and to his family.

Even though the personal details about his life that emerge here are limited, Fauci does reveal him as a man who from his time in Jesuit high school onwards was drawn to a life in public service and one based on a responsibility to truth as he saw it. He comes across as a thorough professional and quite possibly a workaholic (he continues at full-pelt in his work to overcome the pandemic despite now being eighty years old) and he is clearly apolitical as an advisor to whichever president is in power. The film does include an engaging anecdote by his wife as to how they first met, but his work is the central focus here and the film achieves both contrast and variety by skillfully cutting back and forth between the events of 2020 and the fight against Aids. The latter material shows how ultimately many of the gay men who had shown hostility to him came to support him later when it became clear how much he wanted to help (there is striking footage of him attending an Act Up meeting and engaging with the criticism voiced).

As for the character of the man, nowhere is that more evident than in his description of the immediate response he had when realising that he had opened an envelope containing powder that might have been anthrax or ricin but which proved to be a hoax at his expense. On its own terms, this is able stuff and it held my attention throughout.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Featuring  Anthony Fauci, Christine Grady, Jenny Fauci, Apoorva Mandavilli, Peter Staley, David Barr, Susan Rice, Clifford Lane, Sylvia Burwell, Tom Frieden, Louise Garrett, Michael Manganiello, Wakefield.

Dir John Hoffman and Janet Tobias, Pro Jon Bardin and Alexandra Moss, Ph Claudia Raschke, Ed Brian Chamberlain and Amy Foote, Music Daniel Hart.

National Geographic Documentary Films/Story Syndicate/Diamond Docs/Sierra Tango Productions-Dogwoof Pictures.
104 mins. USA. 2021. Rel: 17 September 2021. Cert. 12A.