12 Shocking Documentaries That Will Change How You See The World

This 2012 David France documentary chronicles the early years of the AIDS crisis and the historic actions of the activist groups in the 1980s. The film touches on attitudes towards gay men in these times, the fear that surrounded them and the ways in which they were left to die or were 'othered' by society.

How To Survive A Plague particularly looks at the AIDS group ACT UP and their campaigning to the United States government about developing effective medications for those with HIV and AIDS. The film looks at the government’s lack of productivity when it came to developing and trialling drugs, the underground market that opened up and the rampant homophobia that began because of it.

For people not around or unaware of what it was like to be a gay man in the 1980s and 90s, this film is a shocking example of what a community of people had to go through and the incredible efforts that activists took to make a change.