120 Beats Per Minute review: A deeply human drama that celebrates France's Aids activists

Robin Campillo’s vivid, award-winning, autobiographical drama offers a bustling fresco of the personalities and politics of the Act Up-Paris community dedicated to fighting the prejudice surrounding the Aids pandemic in the 1990s.

There is a documentary-like urgency to the film which shows the passionate debates, sacrifices and conflicts over tactics, reminding you of an underground resistance movement engaged in waging a war.

Individuals gradually emerge from the crowd as we come to know impassioned activist Sophie (Adèle Haenel), haemophiliac Marco (Théophile Ray) and hot-headed Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart).

It is Sean’s deepening love for gravely handsome newcomer Nathan (Arnaud Valois) that provides that most poignant element of a deeply human drama, which celebrates the power of activism to awaken an indifferent world.