Review: Milk

We, as a species are still evolving mentally, we make up our value systems via traditions, religion and society. And then we stick to them blindly and build hatred causing intense harm to those who dont believe in the same things we do. That has been the problem of humanity and gay movement is just another chipping back at having equal rights for every man. Whatever it is we are humans first and have equal rights. Harvey Milk tries to do exactly that. As he says violation of gay rights is violation of human rights, They might come after you next.
Milk is the true story of a man who was happy and confident of what he was. Harvey Milk was a born leader and enthused spirit into people around him. He united a usually low key and inactive collective of gay men and made them a force to reckon with. When discrimination became rampant and their needs being ignored he decided to stand for office. How we did that and how he won is the movie. It is very well scripted and save for a couple of scenes there is a momentum being built up as you go. You are truly enthused by the energy Harvey injects into you and gay supporter or not movie does rope you in.



After giving us a treat for eyes like Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant cuts down on his brilliant visual style to focus on a strong story at hand. The shots are very good, especially the first few scenes between Harvey and Scott. There is a lot of classical music in the form of piano and opera as part of the background score during this scene and the rest of the movie. It was well done but I thought wasnt that effective during the second half. Sean Penn as Harvey Milk gives a brilliant performance and I was flabbergasted watching his transformation from the usual hunk he is to a realistically gay man. The body language spoke volumes and everything from his attire to speech was well modelled on the real Harvey Milk. Sean Penn gives adds another jewel of a performance to his already decorated career. Emile Hirsch was fantastic too as Cleve Jones, one of the friends and campaign members of Harvey Milk. Also James Franco plays Scott Smith, Harvey’s lover and initial campaign manager. Its great that both these actors who we last saw essay totally different roles in In to the Wild and Pineapple Express respectively have given amazing performances in this movie too. Victor Garber, Josh Brolin and Alison Pill play other major roles.
On the whole, the movie is a must watch for two simple reason, Sean Penn and Harvey Milk. Everybody needs to see Penn’s performance and know Milk’s story.Thats it!
Rating: 8/10