Two teens from a small town in Sweden move to Stockholm and find love in the midst of tragedy in Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves, an acclaimed three-part drama only on MHz Choice!
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Set in the early 1980s, Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves tells the story of Benjamin, a devout Jehovah’s Witness struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality. Moving to Stockholm, he meets 19-year-old Rasmus, another recent arrival, and the two fall in love. But a terrible storm is brewing, and as the decade progresses the scourge of AIDS takes a horrific toll on the community.
Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves – the title reflects the paranoia and fear surrounding the disease – is based on a bestselling trilogy by Swedish author Jonas Gardell, telling the story of a generation of homosexual men who endured the rampant prejudice prevalent at the time, and to whom HIV was a death sentence.
Bringing the story to life are a number of actors whom viewers may recognize from other Swedish shows. Benjamin is played by Adam Lundgren, an actor best known to MHz Choice subscribers as Mattias the neo-Nazi in Blue Eyes. Rasmus is played by Adam Pålsson, who made a huge impact as Emil in The Bridge Season 3. Benjamin’s God-fearing, Jehovah’s Witness mother is played by veteran actress Marie Richardson – she’s been in everything, but she’s probably most famous to MHz Choice fans for playing Johan’s girlfriend/wife Helén in all 20 Johan Falk movies. And, as you can see in the above clip, Rasmus’ father is portrayed by none other than Stefan Sauk – best known to us as (arguably) the most ruthless incarnation of Commander Carl “Chainsaw” Hamilton in Vendetta. (He also had a star turn as a rather Hamilton-esque father-in-law in the first season of Thicker Than Water.) Fans of the most recent Beck films will also want to keep their eyes out for a quick cameo appearance by none other than Jennie “Alex Beijer” Silfverhjelm, in a crucial scene at the end of the first episode!
(L to R) Adam Pålsson & Adam Lundgren
With its grainy, period-inspired photography and era-appropriate soundtrack, Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves bristles with the joy and energy of youth, freedom and love, juxtaposing that with the harsh reality of disease and death as the non-linear narrative flashes backwards and forwards in time. It’s serious without being self-important, moving without being manipulative. And, ultimately, it ends on a triumphant note, at the funeral of a fallen friend that erupts into song: “This is my life, the only life I’ll ever have. Here is everything I dreamed about, everything I hoped I would see. Here is my desire to keep on living, here are the friends who carried me.”
Related article: The Top 25 Songs of MHz Choice – #16 This is My Life – by Shirley Bassey
Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves premieres February 12th, 2019 – only on MHz Choice.
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