Ruud Review: Milk

Milk, starring Sean Penn and James Franco.

Penn stars are Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official to serve public office. He held a City Executive position in San Francisco – similar to a City Councilman. He was known as the Mayor of Castro Street – known to have a large gay and lesbian population. Before taking office he organized several rallies and boycotts – including teaming up with the Teamsters Union to boycott Coors – which was the number 1 beer in America during that time. While in office, he fought for equal housing rights for gays.

In all, the movie was fantastic. Directed by Gus Van Zandt, the film used archive footage of the San Francisco area during that time to give the movie a bit of a documentary feel. Penn embodied Milk with precision – right down to his mannerisms and facial expressions. The supporting cast was stellar in their portrayals as well – especially James Franco as Milk’s long time partner. And who doesn’t love a bunch of good look guys in tight jeans? Well, this girl does!

Milk wasn’t a perfect man, and the movie did a great job portraying him as someone who threw himself into his work and let his personal relationships fall to the side.

But what disturbed me the most about this film is that 30 years after Milk successful fought against the passing of Prop 6 (which would have banned gays and lesbians from working in public schools. The Briggs Initiative, as it was more commonly known, was the first failure in a conservative movement that started with the successful campaign headed by Anita Bryant to repeal a local gay rights ordinance in Florida. Read more about it here.), California passed Prop 8 (which essentially banned same sex marriage). It’s just sad to see that 30 years later, not much has changed or maybe history repeats itself.

Next review: Four Christmases