We Were Here
We Were Here Image
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Metascore
94 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 11 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.1 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 20 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
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  • Summary: We Were Here documents the coming of what was called the “Gay Plague” in the early 1980s. It illuminates the profound personal and community issues raised by the AIDS epidemic as well as the broad political and social upheavals it unleashed. It offers a cathartic validation for the generatiration that suffered through, and responded to, the onset of AIDS. It opens a window of understanding to those who have only the vaguest notions of what transpired in those years. It provides insight into what society could, and should, offer its citizens in the way of medical care, social services, and community support. (Red Flag Releasing)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    Sep 15, 2011
    100
    An extraordinarily moving examination of how the AIDS epidemic both devastated and transformed San Francisco's gay community, this clear-eyed and soulful documentary brings us inside the contagion in a way that is so intimate, so personal, you feel like you're hearing about these catastrophic events for the first time.
  2. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Stephen Cole
    Sep 29, 2011
    100
    The most gripping war movie you'll see this year, We Were Here tells first-hand the story of how AIDS attacked San Francisco, killing more than 15,000. Whole peer groups were happy, healthy, and then dead in months.
  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    Sep 8, 2011
    100
    Throughout We Were Here there is not a hint of mawkishness, self-pity or self-congratulation. The humility, wisdom and cumulative sorrow expressed lend the film a glow of spirituality and infuse it with grace.
  4. Empire
    Reviewed by: Eve Barlow
    Nov 21, 2011
    80
    A moving look behind the curtain of a rarely-explored community.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Edward4432
    10
    Absolutely spellbinding -- as a narrative, completely absorbing; as a document of the times, illuminating; as a film, impeccably made. This and "Senna" are easily the best documentaries I've seen this year, or in the past several years. Most highly recommended.… Expand
  2. EC82
    10
    What it lacks in revelation it makes up for in sheer gut-punching emotion, proving that just because a movie is a documentary doesn't mean it can't be as involving and as utterly compelling as the best fiction.… Expand
  3. pdxdennis
    10
    Astonishingly powerful film about Aids in San Francisco in the 80s and the Gay community's response.
    I strongly urge everyone to cast trepida    tion aside and go see this film. Your heart will thank you.… Expand
  4. joomjim4
    10
    t is already hard to find a good documentary and it's even miraculously harder for me to find such cheerful, heartbreaking and such accomplished documentary such as this piece of work. The story was uniquely shocking..yet lying so near to us. The film told both from the individual to a bigger picture as the community in their fight aginst HIV in such emotional ugly-passionate expression.
    Too Great to be missed.    … Collapse

See all 5 User Reviews

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