Milk
Today I went to my local arthouse theatre to see the new movie Milk.
My overall impression was that it was a fantastic movie. I'm still sorting out my feelings on it. Obviously, as a gay man, the subject matter of this movie struck me deeply. Also, as a history buff, I was very impressed at the accuracy of the movie -- the director, Gus Van Sant, used old clips of actual footage during this era in San Franciscan history to a very effective degree. The movie had punch, flow, and verve, and anyone unfamiliar with the story of the actual man Harvey Milk would find it very easy to follow the story from start to finish.
One thing that I actually disliked about the movie was the nudity -- I'm not trying to be a total prude here, but I think for this to be an effective movie that acurrately depicts a charged battle for civil rights, the director didn't have to delve into showing sex all over the place. Showing the kissing as a part of Harvey's life was a good choice because all of Milk's relationships had a profound impact on his life and his political involvement. However, many anti-gay rights activists will use the sexual content as an argument against Milk, so ultimately the sexual content may have worked against the movie.
The acting, however, was golden, the screenplay was smashing and easy to follow, and the directing was quite skillful at depicting emotion in crowds, especially. The mob scenes were powerful and accurate, the speeches were moving, the humor wasn't misplaced. There wasn't an awful amount of cursing, which again begs the question of why there had to be so much sex, but still, the movie wasn't all-out raunchy.
As biopics go, this one was quite a winner. I was in tears by the end of the movie, and my friend had actually been sobbing. I'm not sure that it will truly accomplish anything other than paint a portrait of Harvey Milk as a living man, but it was a MUCH better quality biography than W. In any case, it at least displays a different side of the gay rights argument, without being completely confrontational about it.
I was actually quite pleased that Milk didn't all out say "opponents of GLBT rights/equality are ignorant and sucky." I thought that it was a classy depiction of a man who truly didn't let anything stand in his way on the road to fight for equality. At the least, Harvey Milk's life may spur a new generation to understand that things CAN be changed, and sometimes it's worth it to fight against the status quo to gain equality.
Five out of five stars!