We Were Here Reviews
Creative Loafing
We Were Here ultimately serves as a tribute -- not only to those who are no longer with us, but also to those who crossed the minefield and emerged as survivors, storytellers and heroes.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
JWR
...cinematographer Marsha Kahm has done a stellar job of zeroing in on the disparate visages whether revelling in the joy of a long-forgotten moment with a former partner or letting tears of 'Why not me?' come into unabashed focus.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
L.A. Weekly
A simple, powerful act of bearing witness, We Were Here is a sober reminder of the not-too-distant past, when gays were focused not on honeymoon plans but on keeping people alive.
Playback:stl
...simple yet very intense, and if you have any interest in gay history, you won't want to miss it.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8/10
Knight at the Movies
Cathartic and bittersweet with moments of joy and humor. Weissman's movie is a rare gift.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
an insular story, told by insiders, of a particular community - a community to which this reviewer happened to be connected ... invaluable as a reminder of how it felt to be helpless, to be thought lost, and yet prevail. They - we - did overcome.
Full Review
| Original Score: 90/100
Reeling Reviews
...this is a work that chronicles the very beginnings of a disease that shook the world for decades.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
Reeling Reviews
...honors the fallen, the survivors and those who helped both by documenting the intensity and the many issues surrounding the maelstrom which was the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
[It's] as much about survival as tragedy, and any statistics in it pale in comparison to the personal testimony of those telling the tale.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Film4
Maintaining the perfect balance between the political and the personal, this is a documentary that will make you feel as well as think.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
This is London
Weissman documents the ingenuity, generosity and optimism of a community that fell victim to a horrible disease that, with astonishing speed, turned the world inside out.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Guardian [UK]
Even if, understandably, it's a little inward-looking (the ongoing disaster in Africa gets barely a mention), as a slice of social history, We Were Here takes an invigoratingly positive position on a very gloomy time.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Little White Lies
An honest, frank and often moving documentary that deals with its difficult subject matter sensitively and compellingly.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Top Critic[A] sober, devastating film about how we all - and some more than others - have to deal with the most unexpected horrors in our lives.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Empire Magazine
A moving look behind the curtain of a rarely-explored community.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
There's something profoundly inspirational about this portrait of a community coming together to battle prejudice and disease.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Laramie Movie Scope
Generosity, compassion, courage, determination, love and caring are the things that are emphasized in this film.
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A very moving and heartfelt documentary that acts as an historical record for a time when the AIDS epidemic was a nightmare for the gay community.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
"We Were Here" pays eloquent homage to men and women who deserve to be celebrated and remembered as heroes.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Oregonian
I truly doubt that any thinking, feeling human could behold all the horrible loss and pain that this film chronicles and not be shaken to the core.
Full Review
| Original Score: A-
