When We Rise miniseries

"'When We Rise' looks and feels like it could have been made 15 years ago (if not longer), and should have been. Still, I was moved by the show and learned a lot from it. It's a story that needs to be told and needs to be heard." 

"There's little doubt that both Black and Van Sant themselves are favoring accessibility over confrontation — and the result may be all the more valuable in its potential to reach a wider audience." 

"A sprawling look at the gay liberation movement in the U.S. during the past five decades, spread over eight hours, featuring an abundance of talent, occasionally too earnest, at times heartbreaking, and pretty much always eminently watchable." 

"A sprawling story creates an awkward combination of history lessons and personal stories, and broadcast standards prove far too restrictive. The result is a conglomeration of narratives that never reach their full potential." 

"The mere existence of 'When We Rise' is almost virtue enough. But in terms of tone and execution (...) [it] is wildly uneven, crossing from moving stories of romance under oppression to retellings of history that are so broadly pitched (...) that they’re too after-school special to be truly affecting."