This biopic directed by Gus Van Sant opens today (November 26th, 2008) in limited release and wider next Friday (December 5th, 2008).Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California. Josh Brolin plays a colleague of Milk and Emile Hirsch and James Franco play his friends.
The film opens with an astounding montage of newsreel and newspaper clippings of homosexual raids across the USA in the past. Milk meets up with Franco in NYC and they end up moving to San Francisco's Castro neighborhood. Starting up a camera store, Milk decides to organize the gay community to have financial and political clout.
He decides to run for city office and loses. A couple of times. Not discouraged, he gets more and more folks to volunteer their time and expertize to his cause. Eventually, he gets elected and gets involved in the national debate over gay rights. More specifically Proposition 6, the law that would make it illegal for homosexuals to be teachers in California.
Gus van Sant has taken a lot of jeers (and cheers) for his storytelling style (long takes, relaxed narrative structure, if any at all) but with Milk, he's made a fairly conventional film. It's also one of his best. He tackles a huge story and seamlessly blends in real footage, real people and original locations to create a cohesive film of undenying power.
The performances on display are fantastic. Sean Penn finally plays a character with a broad range of emotions and he's inspiring.
After a year of mediocre fare, Milk sets the bar for American films in 2008.
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