Milk Review

Milk (2008): A Film by Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant returns to mainstream filmmaking after the startlingly beautiful and haunting "Paranoid Park" with an equal of elegance and grace in "Milk," one of the most heartfelt, rousing stories ever to hit the silver screen. Sean Penn plays the politico Harvey Milk, the first openly gay public official elected to major office in the 1970s. In a performance that is sure to nab him an Academy Award win (or a nomination at the very least), Penn downplays his role, making Milk wholly human, although at times his persistence and bravery make him quite the superhero.

The film follows Milk's lengthy road from being a hippie businessman with a camera shop in San Francisco in the Castro district to becoming a member of the board on San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Along the way, he meets many sympathetic to his cause of gay rights, but much more opposition. On the opposing team is Dan White, a fellow member of the Board, who is a blatant homophobe, although some of Milk's team suspect that he may be "one of their own." White, played hypnotically by Josh Brolin, is willing to work with Milk, but only if Milk agrees to support some of his own interests. Milk refuses and makes himself an enemy (sort of). Thankfully, San Francisco mayor George Moscone (Victor Garber) is supportive of Milk's endeavors and is one of the few politicians willing to work with Milk and his allies.

Milk encourages gay youth to "come out of the closet," and in doing so, inspires an entire community and more. He fights against the unethical and most certainly unconstitutional Proposition 6 in California, a law that would have banned all gay teachers from working in public schools. The proposition sadly parallels the recent Proposition 8 in California, which passed, effectively banning gay marriage. Milk and his team were able to defeat the shameful Proposition 6.

His political life, as it always does in American politics, got in the way of his personal relationships. His relationship with Scott Smith (James Franco), a man whom it seems Milk truly loved, was destroyed by days and nights of campaigning, canvassing, and protesting. His next relationship with Jack Lira (Diego Luna) takes an even more tragic turn. Milk was a man so selfless, so dedicated to his cause, that he gave up everything of his own so that a community being persecuted, being denied basic human rights, could have just a little hope to cling onto. When it comes to tragic figures, even Macbeth has nothing on Harvey Milk.

The sad ending to the story is widely known. White enters City Hall after being fired from his position on the Board of Supervisors, and assassinates Milk and Moscone. The film is not a political thriller and is never centered on the assassination, and it shouldn't be. "Milk," appropriately, is a celebration of life, a tribute to the hope a man had while living in a hopeless world. The story is ultimately a tragedy, but moments of heartfelt and sweet-natured comedy keep the film's head from sinking into tepid melodrama. Delicately handled by Gus Van Sant, a director who I am now convinced is a master, "Milk" is not only an important film, but once which should be required viewing for all Americans. Van Sant restores hope to those who believe in basic human rights for all, and as Harvey Milk said once himself, "You gotta give 'em hope".

Rating: 4/4 stars