… ACT UP is going to be mined by future historians, museum curators, and graduate students for all sorts of things. What France’s film does is assemble what are essentially home movies that give the viewer a visceral sense of what it was like to be at the meetings and demonstrations. Of course, a film about ACT UP is not the whole history of AIDS. A shot of the Quilt, an idea from San Francisco, reminds us how its expression of grief complemented the New Yorkers’ outrage. But try-or don’t try-to imagine AIDS without ACT UP. They fought back, fought AIDS, changed medical protocols, and saved lives. …
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