Gus Van Sant's film combined vintage/home-movie footage with newly-shot footage along with a compelling and beautifully written story-line (let's not forget the soundtrack!: powerful and breathtaking) to re-create and re-tell the life and legacy of Harvey Milk, the first "openly gay" man to run for public office in the United States.
Sean Penn's performance is nothing-short of brilliant, and there is absolutely no other way to describe it. He blows my mind as playing politician Harvey Milk... the great thing about Van Sant's story line, though, is that you feel a deep sense of connection and sympathy for each individual character--even supervisor Dan White, who eventually assassinates both Milk and George Moscone, the Mayor of San Francisco in the late 1970's. (...Something you can't get from "The Times Of Harvey Milk").
This movie is again, Fantastic... I am at a loss for words. I think EVERYONE IN AMERICA should see it, and let it have an impact on their lives and realize that what Harvey Milk preached was true, and it was real... and that the ideals of America, that "All Men Are Created Equal," could still be alive and well today...if we let them be.
Sean Penn's performance is nothing-short of brilliant, and there is absolutely no other way to describe it. He blows my mind as playing politician Harvey Milk... the great thing about Van Sant's story line, though, is that you feel a deep sense of connection and sympathy for each individual character--even supervisor Dan White, who eventually assassinates both Milk and George Moscone, the Mayor of San Francisco in the late 1970's. (...Something you can't get from "The Times Of Harvey Milk").
This movie is again, Fantastic... I am at a loss for words. I think EVERYONE IN AMERICA should see it, and let it have an impact on their lives and realize that what Harvey Milk preached was true, and it was real... and that the ideals of America, that "All Men Are Created Equal," could still be alive and well today...if we let them be.
“You gotta give ‘em hope.”
"Somewhere in Des Moines or San Antonio there is a young gay person who all the sudden realizes that he or she is gay; knows that if their parents find out they will be tossed out of the house, their classmates will taunt the child, and the Anita Bryant's and John Briggs' are doing their part on TV. And that child has several options: staying in the closet, and suicide. And then one day that child might open the paper that says "Homosexual elected in San Francisco" and there are two new options: the option is to go to California, or stay in San Antonio and fight. Two days after I was elected I got a phone call and the voice was quite young. It was from Altoona, Pennsylvania. And the person said "Thanks". And you've got to elect gay people, so that thousand upon thousands like that child know that there is hope for a better world; there is hope for a better tomorrow. Without hope, not only gays, but those who are blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us's: without hope the us's give up. I know that you can't live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you, and you, and you, and you have got to give them hope."
-Harvey Milk, 1978
"Somewhere in Des Moines or San Antonio there is a young gay person who all the sudden realizes that he or she is gay; knows that if their parents find out they will be tossed out of the house, their classmates will taunt the child, and the Anita Bryant's and John Briggs' are doing their part on TV. And that child has several options: staying in the closet, and suicide. And then one day that child might open the paper that says "Homosexual elected in San Francisco" and there are two new options: the option is to go to California, or stay in San Antonio and fight. Two days after I was elected I got a phone call and the voice was quite young. It was from Altoona, Pennsylvania. And the person said "Thanks". And you've got to elect gay people, so that thousand upon thousands like that child know that there is hope for a better world; there is hope for a better tomorrow. Without hope, not only gays, but those who are blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us's: without hope the us's give up. I know that you can't live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you, and you, and you, and you have got to give them hope."-Harvey Milk, 1978
From those who can say it better than I can:
Roger Ebert (4 Stars)
Variety
Rolling Stone (4 Stars)
The New York Times (by A.OOOO. Scott! & NYT Critics' Pick)
If you feel like investing more time to Harvey Milk:
The Times Of Harvey Milk (1:27:34)
(This Oscar-winning documentary film covers the successful career and tragic assassination of San Francisco's first openly gay man to be elected to office.)
