Film: Milk (Drama)
Cast: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile Hirsch
Direction: Gus Van Sant
Duration: 2 hours 8 minutes
Critic’s Rating: 4/5
Brokeback Mountain may have come and gone, winning Oscars for its gay heroes and it's paean to sexual liberty. Just as 30 years may have passed since the assassination of gay activist, Harvey Milk. But the story of equality remains almost where it was, the world over. Homosexuality still isn't accepted as easily as heterosexuality and the closet is still tumbling out with `me too' stories of alternate sexual preferences.
Hence the importance of a biopic on Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), the first openly gay man who ran for public office in San Fransisco in the 1970s and ended up being elected as supervisor, after 3 failed attempts. From a champion of gay rights in a homophobic society, Milk metamorphosed into a human rights activist and became a national hero in his short life span which became a beacon of hope for any and every marginalised soul. And why not? Specially since there was a single credo behind every campaign that Milk initiated. He simply believed: All men are created equal. No matter how hard you tried, that could never be erased.
The film follows Milk's transformation from a carefree hippie who moves from New York to San Fransisco with his companion (James Franco), sets up a camera shop in the working class neighbourhood and decides to do something meaningful with his drifter's life. As a public officer, he campaigns for a gay rights' ordinance and unleashes a fiery fight against a ruling that empowers the government to sack people on the basis of their sexual preferences. This brings him in conflict with Dan White (Josh Brolin) a conservative Christian and a seemingly straight member of the Board of supervisors, who cannot accept this `ungodly' (that's what he believes) behavioural code. This is the beginning of a fateful relationship which culminates in a tumultuous climax.
Watch it for an unforgettable performance by Sean Penn who is heroic in his ordinariness, proving that outliers and high-flyers are made, not born.
02-23-2009, 02:31 PM
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