Milk - Critical Review

Milk (2008)

Plot: Upon moving to San Francisco from New York City in 1972, forty year old Harvey Milk gains focus in his life as a gay activist in the city's Castro district. Gay rights activism turns to political activism as Milk decides he can be a more effective voice for the gay community as a politician, elected or not. Through several elections and losses both for a city seat and a state assembly seat, Milk becomes the first openly gay man in the United States to be elected to political office when he wins a San Francisco supervisor seat in 1977. His many political battlefronts include one with the national anti-gay Save the Children crusade, led and fronted by singer Anita Bryant. Closer to home, Milk has a continuing struggle with his fellow supervisor, Dan White, a staunch social conservative. Written by Huggo (imdb.com)

Review: *This review may contain minor spoilers* This movie came to me highly recommended by a few friends of mine. The story of Harvey Milk, was a story that I was completely unfamiliar with before watching this movie. Basically all I knew about it was what I had heard in the news when the film was first released. I knew that Sean Penn beat out Mickey Rourke, Frank Langella, Brad Pitt, and Richard Jenkins to win an Oscar for his performance as Harvey Milk. It was also in the running for best motion picture of the year (fell short as Slumdog Millionaire stole the show). But I still had some reservations since past experiences have reminded me that the so called "critics" and I don't completely agree on what makes a good movie. So with a moderate level of hesitance we went ahead with it. The story in this movie, all be it a true story, was very well written and adjusted to fit the big screen. Let's face it, we all know that there were some parts of the story that were glorified or over exaggerated to add a little drama to the movie. Yet it was very tastefully done. In doing a little research on the side, the writers wonderfully highlighted the points in Harvey's life that made him into the face of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LBGT) community. It still amazes me how a movie crew can take a busy area of San Francisco and successfully shut it down and take it back to the way that it was in the 1970's. The set design and costume crew did a wonderful job. With this being a true story there are pictures and real life accounts of these characters to look back on and compare to make the movie as accurate as possible. This DVD had a feature that I love and think that all nonfictional movies should have. Right before the credits as the captions were explaining more information about the characters. These were accompanied with pictures which they transitioned from the actors depictions of the characters to photos of the real life people. I was astounded at how much of a resemblance there was between the actors all made up and the actual people. A true tribute to the casting, makeup, and costume crews.

Looking beyond the surface of the film this was a very deep and controversial issue back in the 1970's and this look behind the scenes of the Milk campaign and the struggle of those who made Castro their home really tugged at my heart. I know that this is a very bold comparison to make but during these trying times in our countries history, but Harvey Milk was the closest thing the LGBT community had to Martin Luther King Jr. During this time the citizens of Castro were experiencing the hatred of those that did not have the same beliefs as them. Most of the country had turned against them, the police had turned against them, and Anita Bryant was heading up the charge against the LGBT community. The one bright spot in the lining was Harvey Milk. To see the struggles that he himself went through facing the hatred of the nation and losing friends who could no longer take it really opened my eyes to how hateful and awful humans can sometimes be. This movie went beyond the theater, it carries a feeling of hope for our nation. A hope that someday there will be no more hate. It challenges us all to look past a person's sexual orientation and see them as the human being that they truly are.

I would highly recommend this movie to everybody. It is a very entertaining and well put together film. Along with entertaining the audience it raises awareness on a subject that even in 2009 is still a touchy subject with most of our nation. I have given this film 3.5 stars out of 5 and a high recommendation for anybody interested.

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