Review of "Milk"

Film: Milk
Year: 2008
Director: Gus van Sant
Written by: Dustin Lance Black
Starring: Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin

The opening credits of "Milk" are enough to get your tear-ducts warmed up for 128 minutes of sporadic sniffling - antique footage of men in the 1940s and 50s being arrested at gay bars, turning their heads from the camera and shielding their eyes in shame. It makes the audience almost do the same, but for a different reason: these things happened fifty years ago, yet still echo in the reflections of people across the country (the world!) who are told that there is something wrong with them.

As a gay man having grown up in San Francisco, I often forget how lucky I am, but sitting there, in the darkened theater, sitting among gays and heterosexuals alike, I could not help but feel the reality set in. With the passing of Prop 8, the gay agenda is still struggling, and, unlike the struggle to counter Proposition 6 of 1978, we have no political heroes at this time. Harvey Milk would be turning in his grave.

This movie is a wake-up call, much the same way discrimination against gays in San Francisco's Castro district was to Milk in the 1970s. It does a beautiful job of marrying (or civil unionizing) the most active years of Milk's life with the power of political action - the two central concepts of the film. Milk, a playful and loving individual, is humanized by his relationship with Scott Smith (played by a post-Spiderman James Franco) and the suicidal Jack Lira (Diego Luna). He's politicized by the critics of his lifestyle choices, and by colleague (and later opponent Dan White [Josh Brolin]), but he's never hardened, often joking about his high heels to warm up a crowd.

The message that Milk tries to convey throughout the film, which stays true to his real-life attitude, is to not fear being different. The face of a gay person is not a simple one, it is not static or uniform. In a well-written, well-acted scene, Milk tells his people to come out if they have not come out - that all people will vote 2-1 for gay rights if they know someone who is gay. The scene, although advocating an openness that is widely accepted and practiced today, holds a message that should be considered holy in the Church of Gay - that only by making our faces and voices heard will we be treated equal.

Take a pack of tissue with you on your visit to see Milk, but also take a bullhorn - you may need it when you decide to stand on your seat to mobilize.