A gripping, warts-and-all tribute to one of the most important gay activists of our time, Larry Kramer in Love and Anger is not just a hero’s tale. Filmmaker Jean Carlomusto (Sex in an Epidemic, Frameline34), also crafts a compelling account of the onset and terrible escalation of the AIDS crisis in the United States, an epidemic that came to define Kramer’s life and work.

As the cofounder of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and then ACT UP, and the writer of the play The Normal Heart, Kramer was a tireless, powerful force at a horrific time. He gave voice to a community’s rage and compelled government action on HIV/AIDS. (Indeed, even Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through the 1980s and 1990s and someone with whom Kramer frequently and viciously sparred, today speaks of Kramer with respect and fondness.) But as much as he is lauded for his achievements, many of Kramer’s contemporaries derided him for, among other things, his condemnation of sexual freedom—as spelled out in his 1978 novel, Faggots. Director and close friend Carlomusto does not shy away from addressing all facets of this acclaimed and often controversial figure.

Larry Kramer in Love and Anger tells the story of Kramer’s childhood, takes us through his years as a young man in London and Los Angeles, and makes excellent use of archival video footage from his time on the world stage. Then it brings us to today, as a frail but still fiery Kramer fights serious health complications stemming from his long personal fight against HIV—and finally marries his longtime partner, David Webster. This is a vibrant portrait of a complex and brilliant man.