A raw history, often cluttered and sometimes repetitive but, when strategies fail along with immune systems, deeply affecting. full review

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. full review

[A] powerful, messy and tremendously moving documentary ... full review

"How to Survive a Plague" captures a saddening, maddening era that seems like far too many lifetimes ago. full review

It can feel inchoate, dropping the viewer in the middle of events without much context, and it exacts an emotional toll. But its raw quality also makes it compelling viewing. full review

Plague isn't the history of a disease so much as the history of a movement, and a portrait of those who refused to suffer passively. full review

Moving and essential. full review

France and his crew have sculpted years of old broadcast-news stories and home videos into a narrative that is impressionistic in its scope but coherent in its feeling. full review

One of the most important documentaries in years or decades ... full review

Mostly the film toggles between two emotions - the high of watching brave people go to war, and the low of seeing so many of them fall, as entire communities are destroyed. full review

France, drawing on a wealth of video footage from inside the organization, turns that decade of rage, despair, and tenacity into an inspiring tale of effective political action. full review

A heart-wrenching portrait of one of the saddest, most heroic chapters in American history. full review

When it's over, this documentary lingers as a testament to extraordinary human bravery. It stands as one of the most heartbreaking and suspenseful sagas of the year. full review

If the movie expresses equal measures of sadness and outrage, it is charged with the exhilarating excitement felt by soldiers on the front lines of battle. full review

An exceptional portrait of a community in crisis and the focused fury of its response. full review

How to Survive a Plague is thorough almost to a fault. full review

Tune in to the passionate voices in David France's brilliant documentary ... full review

Should be invaluable to every frustrated movement, as both a road map and a reminder of how vital personal activism remains. full review

We grow familiar with the names and faces of many of the leaders in the movement. Some look directly into the camera and say they expect to die of the disease. Some are correct. full review

Dispensing with voiceover narration, How to Survive a Plague is instead a compilation of first-person remembrances, a time-toggling polyphony emphasizing both individual struggles against illness and collective action-the we of me. full review