This past Friday I saw Milk at my local art house theater. It tells the story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, a San Francisco supervisor who was assassinated by fellow supervisor Dan White. The film is directed by Gus Van Sant, written by Dustin Lance Black, and stars Sean Penn as the titular Harvey Milk.
Where do you start with a film like this? I'm sure a lot of (homophobic) people out there will be turned off by the subject matter purely based off the lead being a gay man. If it were about a lesbian, a lot more (male) movie goers would be okay with it, seeing that there would be hopes of seeing the lesbian lead kiss the lesbian co-star love interest, or maybe have soft-core sex with her (keep those fingers crossed)! A gay man just scares the living hell out of a lot of heterosexual men and women (though I believe the percentage is a lot lower) and I'll never figure out why.
Lets come back to that.
My Official Review
Technically speaking, the film is brilliant. The direction flows perfectly and it feels like we're actually watching a documentary, the camera in the background capturing these real people as they plan this revolution. This is the type of technique this movie needed for
it to be told properly. Van Sant meticulously focused on the smallest details, from how big Emile Hirsch's glasses were to the design of the buildings to fit the decade this tale of hope is from. Gus Van Sant brought everything he has learned up to this point to this feature presentation and it benefited the film greatly.The editing is near flawless. I only noticed one or two continuity errors and these were small things that really don't matter and I couldn't specifically note if asked about. The way the editor integrated real footage from the time Mr. Milk lived with the footage the filmmakers filmed worked greatly. Allowing music, especially operatic selections, tell the story instead of dialogue was beautiful. It all blends wonderfully and if any other editor was working on this it might not have worked, but it does and it makes the film that much better.
The script from writer Dustin Lance Black is exactly what it should be. With other bio-pics, the creative teams make sure to tell the entire story of their subject (person the movie is about) from birth to, occasionally, their deaths. Black makes sure to start where the story that needs to be told starts. Not from Milk's troubled childhood, but from the point in his life where he decided to make a difference. Unfortunately, it does end with his death, but it's possibly the most important part of the whole story. On top of that, Black is not afraid to show the intimacy between Milk and his boyfriends in a realistic fashion. Sure, most of this could be credited towards Van Sant, but some of it had to be on the page and I applaud Black for his work.
Finally, we come to the acting. What can I say that hasn't already been said about Sean Penn's work as Harvey Milk? Personally, I'm glad to see him performing in a role where he can be, generally, a happy ch
aracter instead of his usually brooding and angry characters that he's attracted to. He crawls into Harvey Milk's skin and becomes him. He just loses himself in the role and when you see him in his love scenes with James Franco and Diego Luna, you actually believe you are watching a gay man. He's damn good and deserves whatever accolades he receives.James Franco is the best he has ever been in this film (at least in a drama, seeing he was damn funny in Pineapple Express earlier this year). Much like Penn, he also loses himself in the role, becoming Milk's first true inspiration to do something more and playing it to a T. Emile Hirsch is one of my favorite young actors working right now and this is my favorite performance he has ever given. Is Hirsch a homosexual? If not, he plays one perfectly and it's going to take him a few roles after this to convince me differently. Sadly, Diego Luna's character is the weakest, and most annoying, character in the film. It doesn't so much have to do with Luna's performance, but the character itself. He's just annoying and seems to me as if he hindered Milk by being with him.
Josh Brolin plays the low-key, but very troubled, Dan White the way Josh Brolin plays every character; top notch and to his very best. Brolin presented White as a man with layers. On the outside, he's a man of tradition and on the inside, who knows what's going on? And when he pulls that gun on Harvey Milk and you see that look on Sean Penn's face as White shoots four or five bullets into him...I can admit that I wept. It seemed so real and if it wasn't for Josh Brolin playing that evil person I don't know if I would have had the same reaction.
Overall, the film is damn brilliant and you would be doing yourself a disservice by not seeing it. It's probably one of the most important films you'll see in your lifetime, especially seeing what happened in California this year.
I give it a well deserved 10 out of 10.
What You Need To Take From This Film
Now that we have the technical aspects out of the way, it's time to address the message of the film itself.
Why is homosexuality a problem?
Many people are afraid of homosexuality. They fear the idea of a man making love to another man. Many also fear a woman making love to another woman...unless those women are sexy blondes with big tits. Then, we support that tenfold (well, at least the men do).
Why is this?
Many would point to the bible, seeing that followers of this piece of literature pull out obscure lines and tidbits that make them believe God hates homosexuality and that it's a sin. Others say it goes against tradition. Love and marriage is traditionally between a man and woman and some believe that that's the way it should stay. Again, this argument just stems from the bible and those obscure lines and tidbits. So, why are we taking those obscure lines and tidbits and using them against individuals who just want to love who they want to love and would like the same rights as everyone else? The bible tells its readers that a lot things are sins and should be avoided, but many Christians still do them (eating shell fish, for example).
Why do followers of the bible want to promote hate and do not want to encourage love?
This is a question I ask myself daily. Why in God's name would any mortal being try to do the Almighty's judging for Him? You are not God! You should not be condemning people for the way they want to live their lives. Any GOOD Christian would not be trying to fix someone or bad mouth someone or hate someone because of the person they are. They should be welcoming them into their home and treating them like they are their brother or sister, be them gay or straight or bi or trans gendered or black, yellow, white, brown, red, or blue. They should be accepting of every one's differences because that's the way God intended.
What if God was one of us?
Well, he certainly wouldn't be an Evangelical Christian who says, "I'm right and you're wrong," that is for damn sure. If Jesus was around today, do you really think he would be condemning these individuals (the answer is no because, like it or not, if Jesus was alive today, he would be a liberal, not a conservative)? If homosexual individuals go to hell, so be it, but let them live the life they want to live while on this big rock. Let them love who they want to love without persecution. The Beatles sang it best with their line, "Love is all you need."
And for anyone who tries to say that if we allow homosexuality to co-exist with us we should go ahead and allow beastiality and pedophilia as well, you are way out of line. We are talking about grown adults being allowed to love whom they want to love, marry whom they want to marry. An animal or a child does not have the type of mental capacity to participate in such acts and those types of ideas are not similar in the slightest. Plus, that argument is just fucking dumb and is only brought up by unintelligent cowards who are afraid of progression in society.
Oh, and if homosexuality is wrong and evil and we are the only beings on the planet with free will and thought (according to the bible), then why is it that scientists have found homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom, beings who do not have free will or thought? Why have there been recorded instances where two male penguins have formed a bond similar to that of the usual male and female mates and are together for life? Hell, I've seen two male dogs try to fuck before with my very eyes. If these creatures are free of free will and are only supposed to fuck creatures of the opposite sex, then why do these acts occur? These types of things go unnoticed by followers of God too often and need to be discussed.
Why do we have to know someone who is a homosexual before we accept it?
I can admit that when my best friend came out of the closet, I was shocked and apprehensive at first. "Why me?" I would ask myself. "Why my best friend?" I don't know why it seemed like the end of the world at the time, something I didn't want to really talk about when I was around him, but it did. Nowadays, I'm, obviously, more open to the idea and fully support him in everything he does. In fact, he has totally changed my perspective on the whole thing and I thank God every day for placing him in my life and for making him who he is. It took me knowing my friend was gay for me to fully understand and accept homosexuality. I was an immature idiot before knowing and with him coming out, it gave me the chance to grow up.
That's what homophobic heterosexual men need to do. Grow the fuck up. Realize that just because you see two men kissing across the restaurant doesn't mean it's the end of the fucking world. You're still a heterosexual asshole who's going home that night and, fingers crossed, having sex with a female. The way they live their lives should not effect how you live yours. And if it really bothers you, just divert your eyes. If they want to show affection in a public place, they have the right to do it. You have the right to make out with a female with them eating across the restaurant. It's only fair.
This film should have been released sooner.
This film could have helped a lot of people sitting on the fence in California when it came to election day and voting "yes" or "no" on Proposition 8. The fact that Prop 8 went through is a total blow to everything Harvey Milk fought for. In California of all places! How could this happen? How could they give these people right to marriage, something they've deserved for a such a long time, and then just rip it away from them? How could people in their right minds and conscience vote for this ridiculous proposition and take these human rights away from them? Why do these people want to continue to promote hate?
In short...
What I would like anyone reading this to take away from my overblown soapbox rant would be that love is love. Who are we to say that Adam can only love Eve and not Steve? Why do we as a society want to continue the promotion of hate and not the promotion of love? Hopefully, we will all realize that it's not that big of a deal and that we will finally learn to separate church and state properly. We need to fix our society as a whole and this, I believe, should be one of our first steps, along with giving women the equal rights they deserve (now that's another blog all together).
LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED!
