Milk

Oscar Nominated movies...
SPOILERS
and I usually don't get along.  Sure I can appreciate the fact of the work that went into them (although work goes into every movie), I can see symbolism and allegory, I even like some movies that are nominated. But usually if its in the Oscar discussion I'm either horrifically bored by it or the movie just pisses me off in some way and I can't wrap my head around it.  The two biggest offenders for me were Brokeback Mountain and Crash.  While I know they were based in reality and on real occurrences,  their portrayal of very real issues felt fake to me.  What kept Ennis and Jack from running off together if they were so in love?  Why was racism shown as the prevailing mindset of each minority (except the Latino family) rather than an aspect of their characters?  Do people really get in showdowns with the cops because they dont feel black enough?  You can disagree with me, these are opinions, but stuff like this is what bothers me about movies I hear critics rave about.  Sometimes no matter how good the artistry, I can't suspend my disbelief enough (see the QTE..that's the whole reason I hated QT movies for so long) to invest in the movie so it can hit me on an emotional level.

Well the girlfriend happens to be a fan of all the movies I've just mentioned and also was a huge fan of this one.  Amazingly I've only seen Sean Penn in 2 movies (I Am Sam and Fast Times at Ridgemont High), but I figured if he could play a retarded guy convincingly and with heart then maybe this wouldn't be too bad.  James Franco and Emile Hirsch are in it too.  I havent quite soured on Franco yet and I loved Hirsch in Into the Wild and Speed Racer.  Let's give it a go

Milk is a biopic about the first openly gay politician who was elected to office in where else? San Francisco.  His name was Harvey Milk.  He made huge leaps in the civil rights movement for homosexuals and was doing it almost 40 years ago.  Let me re-iterate: this battle was being fought 40 years ago and still isn't over (although hopefully will be soon).  It follows his journey from camera shop salesman to unofficial "mayor" of a district of San Francisco to one of several city supervisors.

Although it mostly follows history and his political career, where this movie shines is showing the interpersonal relationships.  Not just the relationships, but the effect Milk's determination to run for office has on everyone: the city, the country, strangers, and his boyfriend.  There's some uplifting, beautiful moments, and some absolutely brutal heartwrenching moments.  Just like real life.  Every choice comes with reward and with sacrifice, we just have to hope it at least evens out in the end.  Every single person cast in this is believable and I never once questioned a character's behavior or motive.

I have one solitary beef with this movie and its not really a huge deal.  The story is still amazing, the acting completely on point, it was even paced well for how long it was.  Whenever I see biopics, they assume I've done some research ahead of time and am aware of the often brutal ends these heroic yet tragic figures meet.  Yeah well that's not the case.  I knew very little about Harvey Milk before seeing this movie and as far as I knew he was retired in Florida with other 60's children trying to figure out what happened.  In the first 5 minutes, the ending is revealed.  This killed a lot of the punch for me.  I was waiting the entire movie for Harvey to get shot, rather than enjoying the journey and having it wrenched away at the end.  Maybe they decided it was too heavy already and people couldn't take the surprise of Milk being assassinated, so they softened it up early before you get to know Harvey.  I'm not sure the reasoning behind it, but I really wish they'd cut that intro scene out (I realize its to set up the story of the movie, Milk recording his journey on a tape recorder before his death, but still).

So there ya go folks.  Milk.  Great acting, amazing true story (I haven't yet looked up what didnt happen in real life and what did), and just overall well done.  While I don't think this movie will change anyone's mind from being homophobic, thats not what it's meant to do. If you have any interest in the civil rights movement, history, or just want to see an interesting character piece, give this one a look.  It's worth the time.

-Oz