Milk

There's a danger in a film like Milk that a viewer could end up judging the cause rather than the film itself. From the opening shots of documentary footage of gays being harassed by cops simply for existing and associating with one another (including the Stonewall riot of Greenwich Village) it is clear that Milk, the story of the martyred San Francisco supervisor who was the first gay man elected to major office in the U.S., is a jeremiad for gay rights. Today, thirty years later, many of these rights have been obtained (although sadly, not all), so only the most homophobic could watch this film and not feel moved by the man and the cause (I'm sure Anita Bryant, who is demonized throughout, would not be a fan). But I'm also happy to report that the film itself stands alone as a fine piece of art.

Directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring a spellbinding Sean Penn, Milk is told in flashbacks, with the title character, worried about assassination, telling his story into a tape recorder. A gray little insurance man in New York, he picks up a young man (James Franco) in the subway on the eve of his fortieth birthday. Realizing he has done nothing of substance in those forty years, the two move to San Francisco, where Milk opens a camera store and becomes a gadfly for the gay rights cause.

The film's remaining acts concern campaigns. First there are unsuccessful runs for office, and then a victory, which puts him on the board of supervisors. A fellow freshman supervisor is Dan White (Josh Brolin), a tightly wound ex-cop from a conservative neighborhood. Though White has a distaste for gays, he and Milk make overtures toward each other to make political deals.

The final campaign of the film concerns Proposition 6, which would forbid gays from teaching in California's public schools (as well as those who support gay people). Through a massive mobilization, Milk and those who agree with him are victorious. It's a bittersweet moment for today's audiences, because one can't help but think of the recent repeal of the gay marriage law and feel a twinge of regret.

All of this is told in a straightforward style, which Van Sant seemingly had abandoned in his recent more avant-garde films like Elephant and Gerry. The editing, by Elliot Graham, is top-notch, imparting a lot of information quickly and effectively, and making the two-hour-plus running time fly by. The photography, by Harris Savides, invokes a gritty seventies look that works well. The film also makes good use of music, with a touching scene of Milk attending a performance of Tosca on the last night of his life, and unlike Australia, the use of "Over the Rainbow" is appropriate and touching (the Stonewall riot happened the night of Judy Garland's death, and that date has become the de facto Gay Pride Day).

But it's the acting that lifts Milk to great heights. As his friends, lovers, and supporters, Franco, Diego Luna, Joseph Cross, and Allison Pill are all terrific. Brolin is also very effective as a deeply disturbed man that is bubbling with rage (Van Sant pointedly does not include a scene of White eating any Twinkies, thank god). And Penn is just scintillating. There was a very good documentary about Milk some years ago called The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, so for this film to even be necessary an addition that can only come from narrative film had to be there, and Penn delivers it. It's through his performance that we understand what made Harvey Milk tick. He was the kind of guy I would have like to have known, and makes his untimely loss all the more sorrowful.