Milk: A Boytoy Review

[TotallyOz]

Milk

Sometimes a movie comes around that is so inspiring, it reminds you of old Hollywood before the cynical post-Tarantino era swallowed up independent film with its festival of violent snark.

A good example of this is Gus Van Sant's beautiful, moving movie, Milk. In fact, the film is so beautiful that if you didn't know your history you'd be convinced that the director made it up.

But, no, as we all know it is the story of San Francisco political activist Harvey Milk, a fascinating figure of both triumph and tragedy. Though, his story is just a cover for Van Sant to explore the history of the gay rights movement in San Francisco and to look at how that would eventually spread around the United States.

What makes the film work so well are two crucial things Sean Penn's Oscar-winning performance in the lead role, and Van Sant's use of archival news footage to show exactly how strange things were before gay rights activism became a thing.

That only 30 years ago newscasters like Walter Cronkite didn't even know how to pronounce the word homosexual correctly on camera says a lot just on its own. That Anita Bryant was able to go on television and hiss homosexual myths and slurs that even the most die-hard Republican would be afraid to say is astounding on its own.

It's really hard to think just how bad things were back then, and the movie is brilliant in making you realize just how far we have come.

The film's structure also works well. It starts out telling us that Milk will be murdered. Then, it goes back in time and it's up to us to just wait for it to happen something that brings a feeling of tension and dread to each and every scene as it plays out.

And, the way it plays out is fascinating. It first flashes back to Milk and his boyfriend (played by James Franco) moving into a low-rent, heavily Catholic area of San Francisco called The Castro.

But, this isn't the gay friendly Castro that we know today. Instead it's a neighborhood in need of gentrification, and not happy about who will gentrify it. When Milk first tries to set up his camera shop he's told point blank that other business owners will shut him down to keep gays out of the neighborhood.

At this point Milk, who is 40 years old, has lived in the closet his entire life. You'd expect that his first time being confronted with society coming down on him for his homosexuality might push him back into the closet.

It doesn't, and instead provokes him into vocal political activism. This is something he has to pick up on his own, but he does so, motivated by the frustration and anger that have built up over the years of hiding who he really is.

It's interesting that Milk is not portrayed as a saint, but as a human being. He has some great ideas for motivating people and getting things done. He also, however, has some ideas that remain controversial to this day.

One of them was his trademark of beginning every political speech with the line, I'm here to recruit you. Of course, that line has been used against the entire gay movement by homophobes to this day.

His other controversial idea was to take the gay rights movement forward by outing people whether they wanted to be out or not. His theory that if people realized how many gay people they knew they would change their minds about gay rights is sound politically, but remains a bone of contention in the gay political community to this day.

Of course, he did have other great ideas. The chief one was that the way to gay rights was to get other marginalized groups involved in the political discussion. He did so by getting hippies, artists and black groups to join him in his coalition creating strength through sheer numbers.

His other great idea was to spur people just to the point of rioting, but then use his charm to stop them and turn the riots into peaceful protests. This earned him the respect of law enforcement groups and still more members of the community, who were happy to see a man who could avoid violence gain a level of influence.

The movie plays out at a near perfect rhythm. He keeps coming into contact with the man who will eventually kill him (a Catholic father Milk is convinced is a closet gay) and they almost become friends.

It's also interesting that it's not clear at the end if Milk's assassination was a political crime or one simply committed by a man who had lost his marbles after losing his job. (Rather famously, his killer would claim that he had eaten too much junk food and that had set him off, creating the concept of the Twinkie Defense.)

But, at the end of the day, politics is the least important part of this film. It's watching the Castro grown and develop at the same time Milk himself is growing and developing.

The film is inspirational and impossible to ignore. It's difficult to imagine a feel good movie about a man who will eventually be assassinated, but that's exactly what Van Sant has managed to create here.

Milk is sensational. Watch it yourself. Watch it with your friends. Show it to your mom and your sister.

Let people know where we've been, how much we accomplished, and how far we still have to go.

It's what Harvey Milk would have wanted.

cc boytoy.com 2013