Milk

[harperjean]

Overall I thought the film was amazing. Penn's performance was really great, as was the whole look and feel of the film. It was, as intended, alternately exhilerating and devastating. From what I recall of Randy Shilts's book, it was pretty accurate as well

Comments

[djmermaid]

I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing this film (and I'm fortunate enough to be going to the Castro Theater for it

Looking forward to it.

[grendelkhan]

I read And the Band Played On years before I read The Mayor of Castro Street, which was quite recently. (I'm currently reading it to Carin.) The effect is somewhat like reading A Deepness in the Sky after A Fire Upon the Deep; there's this shadow hanging over every triumph, every success. It's dramatic irony, and it's thick--I keep thinking that many if not most of these characters would be dead in a few years, and it makes it all so strangeThe 20th century was an astonishingly long, strange trip for queer folk. I wonder if someone could string together a narrative encompassing the epic journey. It could start with the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee in Germany, then the Holocaust, the massive influx of gay men to New York and San Francisco due to the service moving people around in World War II, the formation of the first post-war American gay rights organizations, Stonewall, Harvey Milk, AIDS, Lawrence v. Texas, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon finally getting married, all that history, especially the parts I don't even know about yet