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 on 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.
Gone Elsewhere 
Penn simply becomes another person. After a few scenes he doesn’t even register as Sean Penn anymore.
I liked this, but I’m not over-the-moon about it. At its core, it’s a fairly conventional nuts-and-bolts kind of biopic. I haven’t seen the documentary, but I can’t think of anything in the movie that the documentary wouldn’t have covered.
But Penn is outstanding, as usual, and I thought Emile Hirsch and Alison Pill were also very good. But it’s the kind of thing that is EXACTLY what you think it is going in.
Saw this yesterday and am with Brian on this one. There’s a lot to like in it but only occasionally did it really take off and escape the conventions of the biopic.
The opening half an hour was very good and lively; as JS said, this is a very well directed and edited film and the insertion of real news footage from the period was very well done throughout. But I thought it sagged after the first 30 mins and only Milk’s death scene (very movingly done) really was top-class.
I thought the section showing Milk’s series of failed attempts at election before his eventual triumph was relatively weak; it was far too diffuse and I didn’t get a particularly good insight in howi Milk developed as a candidate and what he represented.
(Warning: Following paragraph contains not spoilers as such, but detailed description of film’s conclusion which may spoil its impact)
There were a few little details that I was disappointed with. For example in the final scene after Milk’s death we see a flashback to 1970 with his lover Scott and a brief conversation they have in bed. It’s a conversation supposed to convey poignancy and would’ve done that… except we’ve already seen this conversation at the beginning of the film so it’s impact was diluted.
A lot of fine work and the performances in the film though; Penn is reliably outstanding, Brolin was excellent in humanising what could’ve easily have been a caricature. Franco was fine as well.
But while overall a fine film my reaction afterwards was similar to Frost/Nixon; if this is one of the Best Picture nominees it wasn’t much of a year.