Milk

A movie review from Movie Man Mike

Milk (A). This is truly a great film about an historic and tragic event, the assassination of Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone by fellow city supervisor Dan White. Sean Penn gives an Oscar-caliber performance as Harvey Milk, an activist in the fledgling gay rights political movement. James Franco (from Spiderman) plays Scott Smith, boyfriend to Milk. There’s a whole cast of other characters supporting Milk, including Josh Brolin, who gives a solid performance as Dan White. One aspect of the film that was so great was that the makers wove into it clips of real news footage of that era, including footage of Anita Bryant. If you don’t know the story of Harvey Milk, this is a must-see film. This is one of those films that stays with you for days afterward, and leaves you wondering lots of things, such as what would have become of Milk had he not been assassinated. Some have speculated that perhaps he would be California ’s U.S. Senator today instead of Dianne Feinstein, with whom he served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. One word of warning, however. From the very outset of this film there were tears from many in the audience. This film really strikes a chord with many viewers and stirs the emotions.