This documentary was shown by PBS, in my area, on Monday 12/30/2013. That was GOOD, since otherwise, I would not have watched it, because I didn't even know this 2012 documentary even existed. The BAD part of it, is that PBS showed it from 11pm to 12:30pm, therefore they showed a close to a 1:30 hours documentary and the running time of it is 1:50 hours. That's 20 minutes of footage missing from the original documentary, which was filmed with a running time of 110 minutes. Documentaries are usually well edited, that's why there is always a lot of "extras," deleted scenes and so on. GOOD for PBS for showing it, but BAD (very bad) for cutting 20 minutes from it.

These sort of documentaries really make me mad and sad at the same time. If you really look into AIDS/HIV soon you will realize that it's one of the biggest lies the pharmaceutical tycoons have managed to force feed the general population. They did such a good job that whole groups of activists now scream for drugs that will actually cause "AIDS symptoms" and eventually kill them. Please watch 'House of Numbers' (it's also on youtube) to find out what's really behind the whole AIDS myth.To name a few facts: 1) There isn't a single test one can take that actually confirms or denies that a person has aids the enclosed instruction leaflet always tells you not to trust the results (you could test positive due to a common cold). 2) HIV has never been isolated there are only some vague photo's of something that could be a virus.

¨Act Up. Fight Back. Fight AIDS.¨Director David France does an impressive job of gathering information, data, news footage, and home videos during the decade long fight of the activist group known as ACT UP to find a way to stop the AIDS epidemic in this well constructed documentary. The film succeeds in showing us the anger and outrage that these men went through to stop government inaction on such a widespread plague that was killing off millions of people in the world. I was impressed with this chronological history that David France was able to put together in a brilliant way. My only complaint is that some things were repetitive as we see one rally after another in protest against the government. ACT UP assembled to fight and protest against the little support given by the Reagan and Bush administration, against the FDA which was taking too long to approve drugs that several patients needed, and the Catholic Church which condemned them. The documentary is full of anger, and there are several emotional moments as we see what some of these men had to go through in their struggle with the disease. During the 80's having AIDS meant you had almost a 100% chance of dying; it was practically a death sentence. This made the homophobic atmosphere grow in communities where several hospitals neglected to give these patients health care. France follows the activist group, ACT UP, from its forming moments to its divisive ones, and finally to the goals they accomplished through some breakthroughs. It was not an easy fight, but their voice was heard. This is the story of how some of these men were able to survive the plague. The story begins six years after the AIDS epidemic has begun to spread. It's 1987 and a group of activists known as ACT UP decide to get together in New York City to protest against the way the AIDS epidemic has been treated. They form a coalition for healthcare after over half a million people had died of AIDS around the world. We follow the protests taking place against some government officials and the activists finally begin to get their voiced heard. David France isn't afraid of sharing some strong images with the viewer as he shows everything in a very raw manner. Their next rallies take place over the country protesting against gay hate, and later we see them protest against the FDA for taking too much time to approve drugs. This leads some of the activists to begin receiving some underground drug treatments in order to try to expand their life as the sickness begins taking a toll on them. They begin to study and discover what the disease really was and fight for possible solutions as they form committees in order to understand AIDS better. They also form support groups for those people who had fear of coming out during that dangerous time. They studied several ways to slow down the virus, but as time passed more and more deaths were taking place. The film follows the decade long fight of ACT UP from 1987 to 1996 where they finally reached a breakthrough, although it came at a great cost.Some of the important things the AIDS community accomplished were rising consciousness of what the disease really was, they made AIDS become an important issue during the 1992 presidential campaign, and they finally found drugs that helped slow down the effects of the virus. It wasn't an easy fight as we feel the anger some of these men had towards the ineptness of the government of the time and the loss of some of their close friends and relatives. This was a very insightful story and part of American history that needed to be told. France did an excellent job at putting together all the footage and delivering a powerful and emotional documentary. It did drag a little, but it was a strong film. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

This movie is an excellent, engrossing, and necessary document to an important period of history.Living in New York City in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I was familiar with ACT-UP. At least I thought I was.ACT-UP is the acronym for the Aids Coalition To Unleash Power, an organization founded by gay activists to pressure the powers that be to help them fight the deadly disease ravaging their community. Their accomplishments have benefited every citizen of the United States, gay and straight, and they deserve our recognition and gratitude.After watching this movie, I felt old and sad. Old because I remember how frightening AIDS was. I remember learning of the deaths of artists I had just discovered, like the fashion designer Patrick Kelly and disco diva Sylvester. I remember exactly where I was when I heard Freddie Mercury had died. Having dated some "confused" guys, I remember the dread of getting tested. I remember when AIDS meant certain death.For gays to be fighting for the right to marry today almost seems to be a luxury. The footage opening the movie seems quaint today: people in acid-washed, mommy-cut jeans being arrested as they shout "Health care is a right!" Who did these people think they were?Director David France: "We didn't know from week to week who was going to make it. That was a literal fact. There's no hyperbole there. It's one thing to try and tell somebody that, but what this archive of footage allowed me to do was to show it and allow the audience to wonder from frame to frame who would live and who would die."They challenged the FDA and changed the drug approval procedure. They challenged pharmaceutical companies and got them to lower their prices as well as speed up their research process. They created a blueprint for how to make a difference in the world.It's important to remember that they accomplished all of this without the internet, social media, or cell phones. They accomplished this with Republican presidents. They accomplished this despite the societal acceptance prejudice against homosexuals.The people profiled who became the core members of ACT UP had nothing in common save the fear of death. Of particular note:Larry Kramer might be the only one with any name recognition. His 1987 New York Times op-ed piece is credited for the founding of ACT UP. His appearances and interviews in the movie are the most eloquent, as one would expect from a playwright.Peter Staley was a bond trader who tested positive for HIV two years after moving to New York. He was given a flyer for an ACT UP protest but had not planned to attend until his boss said "Everyone with AIDS deserves to die because they take it up the butt." His knowledge of corporate culture informed ACT UP's successful demonstrations against pharmaceutical companies and federal bureaucracies.Iris Long was a straight housewife from Queens who felt compelled to share what she'd learned from her twenty years of working in drug development. She taught ACT UP the protocols of every aspect of drug creation allowing them to take on the establishment with authority. Ultimately, her contributions were more valuable than any other member.Bob Rafsky was a PR director who came out at age 40. The movie includes a gripping scene of him confronting candidate Bill Clinton during the 1992 presidential campaign.The movie's director, David France, insists he's not a movie director. That is very humble of him; much of the footage in this film was shot by people who succumbed to the plague (they are given screen credit). France is a journalist whose career has been spent covering the disease. Realizing that the disease was discovered at the same time camcorders hit the market gave him the idea to make this movie. The story of ACT UP emerged from the over 700 hours of footage he found.Along with last year's documentary We Were Here, the time has come for the story of AIDS to be told, lest it be forgotten. Many of those on the front lines have had the trauma affect their memories. As was observed in Holocaust survivors, beyond a specific date, no one could remember what happened.That date was 1996 when the Protease Inhibitor Crixivan was approved. By December of that year, AIDS deaths in New York City had gone down by 50%. Had Presidents Reagan and Bush committed more funding to AIDS, that drug would have appeared sooner and many lives could have been saved. Bush's own AIDS commission criticized his lack of commitment in June, 1992.France said that year " ...AIDS became a non-story. Newspapers stopped writing about it. It was over."Today, HIV is a manageable condition rather than a death sentence.Despite its subject matter, this is not a propogand-doc. France doesn't ignore the infighting that threatened ACT-UP's existence; in fact Larry Kramer is critical of the movie for not including more of these details. I'm sad he's not happy with the movie. The movie includes footage of him angrily berating those infighters. "Plague!!!" he exclaims in exasperation. " It is a plague that is not going to go away. It is only going to get worse," he said in 2011.His choice to interview the pharmaceutical scientists is an inspired one. It is a reminder that drug companies are not the enemy. ACT UP proved that the real route to change is to work within the existing systems, not to destroy them.