How to Survive a Plague (2012)
Average Rating: 8.7/10
Reviews Counted: 56
Fresh: 56 | Rotten: 0
Angry, powerful, and stirring, How to Survive a Plague is a brilliantly constructed documentary about the activists who pushed for action to combat the AIDS epidemic.
Average Rating: 8.6/10
Critic Reviews: 27
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 0
Angry, powerful, and stirring, How to Survive a Plague is a brilliantly constructed documentary about the activists who pushed for action to combat the AIDS epidemic.
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How to Survive a Plague is the story of two coalitions-ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group)-whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and
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All Critics (56) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (0)
As this stirring, scrupulous doc reveals, the members of ACT UP fused the fervor of revolutionaries, the tenacity of trial lawyers, and the rage of the dispossessed to change the very shape of the epidemic.
Top CriticFrom a terrible epidemic comes a beautiful documentary.
A raw history, often cluttered and sometimes repetitive but, when strategies fail along with immune systems, deeply affecting.
Presents a valuable template for how grassroots activism can temper societal prejudice and challenge governmental indifference in the face of a mysterious and remorseless killer.
A serious, moving and sometimes astonishingly well-organized documentary about the history of AIDS activism.
[A] powerful, messy and tremendously moving documentary ...
An indispensable and moving piece of filmmaking.
[A] glorious ode to the supposition that a small group of committed people can change the world...
Plague offers an instructive lesson for Occupy-era rabble-rousers: Only when coupled with a knowledge base will your sound and fury signify anything.
The film is a tribute to political activism and the power of people to change the world.
One of the most powerful, fascinating and saddest documentaries of the last several years.
What making a difference is really all about!
A cinematically sophisticated documentary that actually finds a way to be an intelligent and admirable work of art in addition to its more overt sociological implications.
A brilliant blueprint on how to spark a revolution. The activists who were highlighted in this film are American heroes to us all - gay, straight, black, white, male or female.
Compelling, important and inspiring documentary about the fight against AIDS.
Beautifully inspiring and, obviously, also a great cautionary tale.
A riveting look at LGBT protesters during the AIDS crisis - and an object lesson that if the revolution is going to be televised, it's good to have the revolutionaries holding the cameras.
This is a moving documentary, as hopeful as it is tragic.
The title doesn't necessarily convey this, but "How to Survive a Plague" is an inspiring and hopeful documentary.
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September 20, 2012:
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