Series *** When I heard the National Gallery was showing a "dramatic videoproduction'' about the history and issues surrounding the mosquito-borne disease malaria, I was frankly quite curious.

How do you produce a play with a disease as the starring character and still create a work that's palatable? Well, Bermuda resident Steven Horrobin created just such a film entitled "The Hidden Cycle'' with mixed results -- half of it I hated, the other half I loved.

The film opens with Sir Ronald Ross (one of the original scientists who discovered the development of the malaria) in a sweaty, Dr. Who-ish state of delirium.

He is visited by Malaria, who takes the form of a veiled woman and begins to taunt him -- she informs him that more than a century after his discovery, Malaria still runs rampant and kills millions of people every year.

Malaria takes Sir Ross on a journey into the future so he can see the unchallenged power of the ancient disease.

She takes him to Sadiq -- a African scientist who has dedicated his life to discovering a cure after his three-year old son is killed by Malaria -- and to a Scottish doctor named Caroline who he appeals to for funding.

The bad news first: as Mr. Horrobin (who was available for questions after the screening) pointed out, the film was originally intended as a play so the style of writing and acting was dramatic in a way not normally associated with film.

As a result, the scenes where the personified, veiled Malaria takes on the mythic qualities of a dark goddess and boasts about her power to Sadiq, it comes off a bit melodramatic.

However, the quality of the writing is very good: the film was chock-full of lovely metaphors about the disease as a "faithful lover who makes your heart beat faster, I stay with you 'til death'', the malaria parasites like ghosts taking possession of blood, etc. and in a novel or play I'm sure it would've sounded quite lyrical.

And the good news is that the scene with the Scottish doctor Caroline and her jaded assistant (the same actress who plays Malaria sans veil) was quite brilliant.

Their conversation becomes a philosophical discussion which offers an incisive critique about the role of the medical community in a capitalist society.

Caroline's assistant compares doctors to parasites -- if the cures to diseases such as malaria are discovered, then those whose livelihood depends on researching the disease are out of a job.

And Caroline struggles with Sadiq's discovery of a cure -- because malaria is not found in the rich countries of the world and the poor can't afford a cure, "the cost of development outweigh the potential market value''.

I think the reason this second part of the film works so much better is because you have a dialogue about the disease between two people which creates and emotional connection -- for example, I think the scene with Sadiq would've been less tedious if he'd been talking with his wife about their son's death instead of arguing with Malaria personified.

But as is the case with most of the films selected by the National Gallery, it's certainly a change from the norm.

Kim Dismont Robinson