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  Average Rating for Milk [2008] - 4 out of 5

  
  (based on 1 user reviews)
• Milk [2008]

  Erin Britton 31 July 2009

  

  Opening with archive news footage and the first official report that Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk had been shot, and interspersed throughout with Milk recording his will just days before the assassinations, Gus Van Sant's Milk was always going to be a bittersweet gem of a film. After this emotional beginning, the action shifts back in time to 1970 and Harvey Milk (Sean Penn delivering an Oscar winning performance) celebrating his 40th birthday in New York and meeting his much younger lover, Scott Smith (James Franco). Dissatisfied with the direction that his life has taken, Milk suggests that he and Smith move to San Francisco where they can start afresh and hopefully find greater acceptance of their relationship. They open the Castro Camera shop in the heart of Eureka Valley, a formerly conservative Catholic neighbourhood which was slowly developing into a predominantly gay area known as The Castro. To counter the opposition and discrimination that they encounter from long-term residents of the neighbourhood, Milk uses his business skills to become a gay rights activist and campaigner for social justice and equality. At first, Scott Smith works as Milk's campaign manager but he eventually becomes disillusioned with Milk's dedication to politics and leaves him. After several unsuccessful political campaigns, Milk is eventually elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 and becomes the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States. Although Milk works well with Mayor Moscone (Victor Garber) and most of the other Supervisors, he has a difficult relationship with Dan White (Josh Brolin), a former police officer who is conservative both socially and politically. Milk and White have an irreparable falling out over Milk's successful opposition to Proposition 6, legislation that would make it illegal for homosexuals and those who support them to work in public schools, and White resigns from the Board of Supervisors. White later changes his mind and asks to be reinstated but Mayor Moscone, after being lobbied by Milk and other liberal Supervisors, denies his request. On 27th November 1978 Dan White returns to City Hall and shoots dead both Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk. The film ends with a highly emotive shot of the massive candlelight vigil that took place on the streets of San Francisco in memory of Milk and Moscone and, with a particularly nice touch given the emotional rapport that has developed between the audience and the characters, pictures of the actual people depicted and summaries of their lives precede the closing credits. I think Milk has got to be the best film I have seen this year, it is a success in every way. Sean Penn is a truly exceptional and versatile actor who seems able to transform himself into anyone from anywhere and his portrayal of Harvey Milk seems to be a perfect recreation of the Milk I have seen in news footage. Josh Brolin and James Franco also deliver skilled, pathos filled performances. Being based on a fairly well-known true story, there may well not be any surprises or twists in the tale but Dustin Lance Black's script has captured perfectly the place and people involved and the audience are drawn into the story from the very beginning. Milk is very possibly Gus Van Sant's most perfect film (yes, even better than My Own Private Idaho) and this DVD release has some great special features - buy it, watch it, then tell your friends about it!

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Shot on location in San Francisco, this biopic from director Gus Van Sant explores the life of Harvey Milk. Oscar winner Sean Penn stars as the gay activist who broke barriers by becoming the first openly gay man to win an election for public office in America. MILK also stars Emile Hirsch (INTO THE WILD), Josh Brolin (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN), Diego Luna (Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN), and James Franco (SPIDER-MAN).

Gus van Sant directs this political biopic telling the story of California's first openly gay elected public official, Harvey Milk. Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the New Yorker who became known as a gay rights activist after moving to San Francisco in the early 1970s. After two failed attempts to become elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, Milk finally made it onto the board in 1977 - but only served for a matter of months before he and the city's mayor George Moscone (Victor Garber) were shot to death by right-wing rival Dan White (Josh Brolin).