AND THE BAND PLAYED ON: EFFECTIVE RECREATION OF TRAGEDY

I just saw this '93 HBO film, and was struck again by the sheer blank terror of AIDS, which so many of us felt when it first hit, even if we were not directly affected.

This docudrama recreates how the handling of the epidemic was initially bungled via tunnel vision, denial, and bloated egos, both within the government and the medical establishment...it also introduces us to a few early heroes.

Matthew Modine stars as one, a crusading young doctor, and on the flip side, Alan Alda was never better playing a medical research big-wig who wants the glory of "discovering" the virus.

The fact that AIDS is becoming more a chronic disease now only makes watching this more horrifying.

And incidentally, it also reminds us that HBO didn't just start creating quality programming with the Sopranos.