Review: Milk

2009 April 15

Title: Milk
Starring: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, James Franco
Written by: Dustin Lance Black.
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
Photography: Harris Savides
Art: Charley Beal
Music: Danny Elfman
Editor:Elliot Graham
Score: 8 out of 10

This movie is all about Harvey Milk who was the Gay rights activist in the 70s in the San Francisco area. Sean Penn who plays Milk makes this movie all about his performance. True to the movie title the director Gus Van Sant ensures that this movie is an intimate account of Milk's private and public lives. This was a story written by Dustin Lance Black who suffered due to discrimination in Dallas due to his sexual preference.

In the years before the 70s, the rights of homo sexuals were always being questioned by the so called moral police. Actually it was worse. They were being harassed and beaten up by police in no less a city than San Francisco. Into this scene enters Harvey Milk and his partner Scott. They set up a camera shop on Castro and openly exhibit their gayness. The store quickly becomes a place for the gays to hand out. With tenacity, Milk fights against injustices to gays and after four or five attempts wins an election to the office of City Supervisor becoming the first openly gay person to occupy a public office in the US.

Being a biopic the movie has a documentary feel to it. In this sense the movie does not have an emotional narrative. It seems to be a collection of historical events. But that does not take away the credit from this movie or its makers. The locales and the costumes have been recreated so well that it transplants the viewer to the 70s San Francisco. Sean Penn does not remind you of Sean Penn at all. Sean Penn the actor has disappeared inside the character Milk so completely that we do not even feel he is acting. His body language, his expressions and his way of speaking are great testimonies to this actors ability. Having always seen Sean Penn as an unlikeable snob this movie surprises his detractors with his charming mannerisms. This perhaps is Sean Penn's finest performance. He rightly won the Oscar for best male performance.

While this movie is about Gay rights what is very striking is the thrill of seeing an underdog -individual or a group of people - organizing themselves and mobilizing a mass movement which becomes successful. The movie lays bare in front of us the situation and we cannot help cheering Milk and his group of interesting friends. There are such interesting characters as Scott (James Franco), Jack (Diego Luna), Cleve (Emile), Anne Kronenberg(Allison Pill). The movie is successful in bringing out these characters to life, complete with flesh and blood. The movie ends with a nice touch. We see the real surviving characters come and speak about Milk.

Josh Brolin (American Gangster and No Country for Old Men) is striking in his dignified performance as Dan White, a gay hating conservative City Supervisor. What could have been a caricature has been turned into an understated performance while still being able to show his rage resulting from feeling humiliated. He was nominated for Best Supporting actor at the Oscars. The award went to Heath Ledger in Batman. Scott, played by James Franco is good too.

The movie is tightly edited. The grainy feel of the film and the hairstyles take us to those days. This movie was inspired by The Times of Milk (1984) by Rob Epstein. Gus Van Sant wanted to make this movie in spite of not being the first one. His love for the theme and Harvey Milk shows in the making of this movie. There is a short glimpse of the real Milk who comes of as a genuinely concerned activist. He did not fight just for the gays. His life is inspiring for other minorities like Asians, Black and Latinos.

This movie gets 8 out of 10.