How to Survive a Plague
Sundance Selects | Release Date: September 21, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisSep 27, 2012
We're now far enough from that era that seeing it all again feels like a slap to the face in the same way that watching certain moments in the civil rights epic "Eyes on the Prize" chills your bones. This doesn't have that series' stately magnitude. It's smaller and crasser, but it's comparatively galvanic. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliSep 20, 2012
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. Read full review
100
The PlaylistKatie WalshSep 20, 2012
One of the best documentaries, and best films, of the year, it is required viewing for anyone with a desire for making their own world a better place, inspiring you to act up and fight back. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 18, 2012
The true value of the film is universal: These kids study the knotty viral science, pressure doctors into taking daring, inventive steps and make their cause a global emblem. Read full review
95
NPRElla TaylorSep 20, 2012
ACT UP soldiers on today, as it must, given the lack of official attention to the resurgence of HIV among young American men in metropolitan areas. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenSep 20, 2012
The latest in a recent spate of AIDS-themed documentaries, How to Survive a Plague is an exceptional portrait of a community in crisis and the focused fury of its response. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternSep 20, 2012
What's so remarkable about their decadeslong campaign, though, is how desperation led to inspiration - to the inspired notion that they, as nonscientists, could still take their fate in their own hands. Read full review
90
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonSep 18, 2012
Millions of lives have been saved - and extended - as the result of a tireless cadre of advocates who, as Eigo states, "put their bodies on the line." Read full review
90
VarietyDennis HarveySep 16, 2012
A concise overview's clarity and an epic narrative shape, with a happy ending to boot. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniOct 11, 2012
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. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 21, 2012
From a terrible epidemic comes a beautiful documentary. Read full review
88
New York PostSara StewartSep 21, 2012
How to Survive a Plague, while a shaggier-structured documentary than many, is a heart-wrenching portrait of one of the saddest, most heroic chapters in American history. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertSep 19, 2012
The most heartbreaking scene shows survivors of the dead reaching through fence railings to scatter their ashes on the White House lawn, where presumably they still rest. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundSep 16, 2012
Presents a cast of characters who must continue fighting, for what's at stake is the very real, very imminent threat of their own deaths. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasSep 19, 2012
Drawing on a wealth of footage from inside ACT UP meetings and protests, David France's powerful documentary How To Survive A Plague pays tribute to their courage and relentlessness, but it's even better as a record of the tactics of effective activism. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 7, 2013
As activist Larry Kramer remarked, the movement had "its good cops and its bad cops", and there is a remarkable, angry, passionate funeral speech from campaigner Bob Rafsky that helped mobilise Act Up and awaken America's conscience. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeNov 5, 2013
This painful, beautiful doc chronicles the fightback. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid ParkinsonNov 4, 2013
A moving treatment of a deeply personal subject (France's own partner died of an AIDS-related illness in 1992), and an enthralling depiction of a seriously fired-up popular movement. Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie RussellNov 3, 2013
This blistering, Oscar-nominated documentary tells how its members refused to let patients become pariahs. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanSep 20, 2012
David France's survey of AIDS advocacy should be invaluable to every frustrated movement, as both a road map and a reminder of how vital personal activism remains. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen HoldenSep 20, 2012
In the words of Mr. Kramer: "The government didn't get us the drugs. No one else got us the drugs. We, Act Up, got those drugs out there. That is the proudest achievement that the gay population of this world can ever claim." Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenNov 2, 2012
Society would do well to remember that, in large part, the most effective redress to the tragedy of AIDS came directly from the people with AIDS. Lest we forget, director David France is intent on reminding us. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 11, 2012
Scrappy and unsubtle where "We Were Here" is elegant and nuanced, How to Survive a Plague isn't nearly as formally beautiful as its predecessor. Read full review
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