An intriguing new program about a man recently diagnosed with HIV, 2 28 is a thought provoking entry into the original web series world. Based on the filmmaker’s once anonymous blog, two twenty eight is the story of Benjamin M. Piety as he experiences the fear and hopelessness that I’m sure nearly all individuals face after testing positive.
Piety started blogging under the banner of two twenty eight on February 2, 2008, and chronicled the day to day emotional and physiological struggle he faced with infection and medication. “I came home, in shock, as you can imagine, and I needed some sort of outlet,” said Piety. “Starting this anonymous blog was the easiest way to get all that anxiety and fear out.” Soon, he decided to get all that fear and anxiety out by way of motion pictures, too.
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Adapting his blog, Piety tried something rarely seen in traditional web series . “I didn’t want to lose the tension and mood that each entry held,” Piety said discussing the adaption, “Instead, by reading them as individual monologues and coupling them with varied abstract and generic images, I hoped to stay closer to the emotional tension of the original entries.”
2 28 is a welcome reminder of how simplicity can sometimes be the easiest way to tell a powerful story. If you prefer Jean Claude Van Damme to James Marsh (Man on Wire), then 2 28 might not be for you. But if you’re looking for a series that may educate you about HIV and offer a unique point of view on the subject and the human experience, then I would give 2 28 a click.
