A Historic Moment

Well in case anyone lives under a rock, let me be the one to inform you that yesterday France became the 14th country to legislate in favor of marriage equality. Thus yesterday seemed like a good day to watch 2008's Oscar winning film Milk. The film is a biopic about the first openly gay elected official, and poster child of the gay rights movement, Harvey Milk. Milk is played by Sean Penn who won an Oscar for his performance as the famed gay rights activist.

The film was written by Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for his endevours and subsequently went on to write '8', a play about the legal issues surrounding Proposition  8, and J Edgar, a film about the unstable secret life of president Hoover. The film focuses on the whole of Milk's political career, from the moment he moves into the Castro on the eve of his 40th birthday, to his assassination at the hands of his killer, fellow supervisor Dan White. This bucks the trend founded in recent years of focusing on a single short period of time for a biopic, as this film takes place over a number of years.

Sean Penn shines as the activist, and instills into the role a gaiety and a lightness which is what makes this character fun and bright, yet we never lose the gravity of the character, and he retains the iconic nature of the man who he is betraying, whilst still making the film entertaining and not putting the character on a pedestal, as many others seem to (such as Lincoln!). James Franco also shines as Scott Smith, a young man that Milk meets in the first scene, and with whom Milk then moves to the Castro, and Emile Hirsch plays Cleve Jones, a young activist who helms Milk's campaign, Hirsch's character was based on a real person, and Cleve Jones himself appears in the film as Don Amador in a cameo role. The rest of the cast is rounded out by a number of notable actors including Alison Pill, Victor Garber and Josh Brolin, nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Dan White.

The film is directed by Gus Van Sant, known for directing 2003's Elephant. The film is a landmark film for the way in which it discusses gay rights, civil rights and gay issues, the film, i feel is also important for young people to see, who may not know the story of Harvey Milk, and the intense relevance of his story in modern times, in fact the films release was timed to coincide with the voting of prop 8, a fact which further reinforces this films relevance in our modern world. The film uses archive footage of Anita Bryant and other anti gay activists, along with more archive footage of the stonewall riots, as well as of Harvey Milk himself, a feature which is seamless given Sean Penn's incredible likeness to the real man whom he plays.

Overall this is a very surely handled picture which doesn't feel the need to ever be overly melodramatic, yet still manages to be light and at times a feel good picture, whilst not loosing the gravity and importance of the amazing story which it portrays. The film feels current in today's society, and even if it allows one person to feel less alone, it will have done it's job, i feel that it does this just fine! Rating: A

Harvey Milk: My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you!