Milk

See this film about the life of slain San Francisco politician Harvey Milk. Gus Van Sant has made a very good film with Milk. One of the top five of 2008. The performances by the actors are wonderful. Sean Penn deserves the Academy Award for this role from what I’ve seen so far. I haven’t seen The Wrestler as yet to chime in on Mickey Rourke’s performance. Penn just won the SAG award for Best Actor for the role. Josh Brolin is great as the so tightly wound Dan White that his failures and frustrations lead him to kill his rival Harvey Milk along with Mayor Moscone (a small role by the always good character actor, Victor Garber).

Penn’s supporting players put some very good performances in here too: James Franco as his lover is especially fine and Emile Hirsch as a young man who goes from street hustler to helping to spearhead Milk’s campaigns.

What really shines through in this film is the goodness of Harvey Milk’s heart and his never give up attitude to try and give a political voice for the gay citizens of San Francisco and California. I lost count of the number of times Milk ran and lost before he finally was elected into office. You found yourself wanting to stand up and cheer each time he uttered the words, “My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to recruit you.”

Don’t miss this film! A rating.