House of Numbers: Anatomy of an Epidemic

Leung has declined to discuss funding for the film except to state that funders came from "all over the world".{{cite news | first = Jim | last = Ridley | title = Controversy lingers after premiere of Nashville director's AIDS documentary | date = 2009-05-07 | url = http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/controversy-lingers-after-premiere-of-nashville-directors-aids-documentary/Content?oid=1200956 | work = Nashville Scene | accessdate = 2010-10-02}} In the film, Leung interviews a range of scientists and AIDS denialists, most notably Christine Maggiore. At the time of filming, Maggiore was HIV-positive and appeared healthy, despite her refusal to take anti-retroviral medication, which mainstream medicine uses to slow down the rate at which HIV destroys CD4+ T-cells. As she said in the film, she refused to take the medication and did not have her daughter, Eliza Jane Scovill, tested, or provide her with medication, because she believed HIV did not cause AIDS. Rather, she believed that the medication itself caused AIDS. Maggiore's relative health, despite years of infection, is used by the film to support the idea that anti-retrovirals are unnecessary to combat, and may themselves cause, AIDS. Maggiore died of complications of advanced untreated AIDS.

The film was screened at small film festivals, including the London Raindance film Festival{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/oct/24/hiv-aids-link-denialist-spectator-events|title = Bad science | HIV and Aids: Debate or denial? | Ben Goldacre|website = TheGuardian.com|date = 23 October 2009}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.houseofnumbers.com/site2/screenings.html|title=The HIV/ AIDS Story is Being Rewritten}} A panel discussion of the film at a Boston film festival was disrupted by Leung and other AIDS denialists in the audience, who attempted to shout down members of the panel with whom they disagreed.

Both Maggiore and her daughter died of AIDS-related complications before the film's release, although their deaths are mentioned only in small print during the closing credits along with a claim that Maggiore's death was "unrelated to HIV." Maggiore's daughter died in September 2005 of AIDS-related opportunistic infections, although Maggiore rejected the cause of death and argued that the coroner's report was politically motivated.{{cite news|last1=Ornstein|first1=Charles|last2=Costello|first2=Daniel|title=A Mother's Denial, a Daughter's Death|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-sep-24-me-eliza24-story.html|access-date=April 17, 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 24, 2005}}{{cite news|title=Did HIV-Positive Mom's Beliefs Put Her Children at Risk?|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/print?id=1386737|accessdate=April 17, 2015|work=ABC News|date=December 8, 2008}} Maggiore herself died in December 2008 from AIDS-related opportunistic infections.{{cite news|title=Christine Maggiore died of AIDS|url=http://www.aidstruth.org/news/2009/christine-maggiore-died-aids|accessdate=April 17, 2015|work=AIDStruth.org|date=March 9, 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821045350/http://www.aidstruth.org/news/2009/christine-maggiore-died-aids|archivedate=August 21, 2011}}

Eighteen scientists interviewed in the film stated that their answers to Leung's questions were selectively edited to convey a false sense that the scientific community disagrees on basic facts about HIV/AIDS. Two interviewees, Neil Constantine and Robin Weiss, cite examples supporting the allegation that Leung misrepresented their words in a "surely intentional" manner.{{cite web | publisher = Aidstruth.org | title = Constantine and Weiss pinpoint misrepresentations | date = November 26, 2009 | accessdate = November 27, 2009 | url = http://www.aidstruth.org/features/2009/constantine-and-weiss}} Brent Leung denied taking quotes out of context.{{cite news| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-rivera/filmmaker-brent-leung-res_b_271521.html | work=Huffington Post | first=Jeff | last=Rivera | title=Filmmaker, Brent Leung Responds to Huffpo Blogger, Thomas DeLorenzo | date=August 28, 2009}}

The film's promotion of AIDS denialism, a pseudoscientific movement implicated in thousands of deaths,{{cite news | work = The Guardian | title = Mbeki Aids denial 'caused 300,000 deaths' | url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/26/aids-south-africa | date = November 26, 2008 | first = Sarah | last = Boseley}} drew criticism and anger.{{cite news | url = http://www.nashvillescene.com/2009-04-30/film/for-the-nashville-film-festival-there-s-clearly-life-after-forty/ | work = Nashville Scene | first = Jim | last = Ridley | date = April 29, 2009 | accessdate = September 8, 2009 | title = For the Nashville Film Festival, there's clearly life after 40}} The New York Times characterized the film as "a weaselly support pamphlet for AIDS denialists", "willfully ignorant", and "a globe-trotting pseudo-investigation that should raise the hackles of anyone with even a glancing knowledge of the basic rules of reasoning."{{cite news |first=Jeanette |last= Catsoulis |title=AIDS Seen From a Different Angle |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/movies/04house.html |work = New York Times |date=4 September 2009 |accessdate=3 September 2009}} The Wall Street Journal cited the film as part of "this season's fashion in conspiracy theories." The Portland Oregonian criticized Leung for "not being entirely honest with viewers," and decried the film's reliance on "selective editing, anomalies and anecdotes, unsupported conclusions ... and suppression of inconvenient facts."{{cite news | work = Portland Oregonian | publisher = OregonLive.com | first = Stan | last = Hall | title = 'House of Numbers' blurs facts on HIV | url = http://www.oregonlive.com/movies/index.ssf/2010/01/review_house_of_numbers_blurs.html | date = January 21, 2010 | accessdate = May 10, 2010}}

Reaction from the scientific community was similarly negative. Lancet Infectious Diseases criticized the film's arguments, calling them a "toxic combination of misrepresentation and sophistry." AIDSTruth.org, a website created by HIV researchers to address AIDS denialism,{{cite journal |author=Cohen J |title=HIV/AIDS. AIDSTruth.org Web site takes aim at 'denialists' |journal=Science |volume=316 |issue=5831 |page=1554 |year=2007 |pmid=17569834 |doi=10.1126/science.316.5831.1554|s2cid=30223809 |doi-access=free }} criticized the film for concealing its "agenda behind a false veneer of honest inquiry", and published a rebuttal to some of the film's claims.{{cite web | publisher = Aidstruth.org | first = Jeanne | last = Bergman | title = Real Answers to the Fake Questions in "House of Numbers" | date = September 10, 2009 | accessdate = September 22, 2009 | url = http://www.aidstruth.org/features/2009/real-answers-fake-questions-%E2%80%9Chouse-numbers%E2%80%9D}} Ben Goldacre, writing in The Guardian, described House of Numbers as "a dreary and pernicious piece of Aids denialist propaganda."{{cite web | work = The Guardian | first = Ben | last = Goldacre | authorlink = Ben Goldacre | title = House of Numbers | date = September 26, 2009 | accessdate = September 27, 2009 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/sep/26/ben-goldacre-bad-science-aids/}}

In February 2014 several people involved with the film filed DMCA notices against a YouTube science blogger named Myles Power, who had made a video series debunking claims made in the film. Power argued that the film was fair use as criticism and education.{{cite news|last1=Palmer|first1=Ewan|title=YouTube to Terminate Account of Scientist who Debunked Aids Denialist Movie|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/youtube-terminate-account-scientist-who-debunked-aids-denialist-movie-1436802|accessdate=April 17, 2015|work=International Business Times|date=February 17, 2014}} Several commentators described the notices as attempted censorship by copyright.{{cite news|last1=Geigner|first1=Timothy|title=AIDS Denial Crazies Go All DMCA On Videos Educating People Of Their Craziness|url=https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140210/05172926163/aids-denial-crazies-go-all-dmca-videos-educating-people-their-craziness.shtml|accessdate=April 17, 2015|work=Techdirt|date=February 14, 2014}}{{cite web|last1=McSherry|first1=Corynne|title=New Entrants in the Takedown Hall of Shame: AIDS Deniers and Televangelists (Updated)|url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/02/new-entrants-takedown-hall-shame-aids-deniers-and-televangelists|publisher=Electronic Frontier Foundation|accessdate=April 17, 2015|date=February 18, 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Kobie|first1=Nicole|title=Censorship by copyright: Myles Powers and abuse of DMCA takedowns|url=http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2014/02/17/censorship-by-copyright-myles-powers-and-abuse-of-dmca-takedowns|accessdate=April 17, 2015|work=PC Pro|date=February 17, 2014}} The videos were restored several days later.{{cite news|last1=Palmer|first1=Ewan|title=Scientist's YouTube Account Remains Open Following Aids Denialist Censorship Claims|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/scientists-youtube-account-remains-open-following-aids-denialist-censorship-claims-1437094|accessdate=April 17, 2015|work=International Business Times|date=February 19, 2014}}

{{portal|Viruses}}

• Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
• The Other Side of AIDS
• Duesberg hypothesis
• Eliza Jane Scovill

{{reflist|2}}

• {{Official website|http://www.houseofnumbers.com}}
• [http://www.houseofnumbers.org/ Inside House of Numbers], a website critical of the film, rebutting many of its claims
• {{IMDb title|1311710}}

Category:2009 films

Category:American documentary films

Category:HIV/AIDS denialism

Category:Documentary films about HIV/AIDS

Category:Pseudoscience

Category:2009 documentary films

Category:Pseudoscience documentary films

Category:2000s English-language films

Category:HIV/AIDS in American films

Category:2000s American films

Category:English-language documentary films