Gus Van Sant Needs to Chill Out for a Second!

Rating: Null/10 (15 December 2008)

Gus Van Sant is one of the more interesting filmmakers around, and not because all of his projects are "good." Why would this man, who directed the Oscar bait "Good Will Hunting" do a shot for shot remake of "Psyco"? Not only that, but this is a guy who in recent years has made a film that won the top prize at Cannes (for "Elephant") while at the same time made a film that deals exclusively with two men walking around aimlessly in the desert. Having that prior knowledge one walks into "Milk" wondering just what exactly it will be. Will it be experimental? Will it be Oscar bait, or will it be something else altogether?
"Milk" as it turns out leans more toward bait territory than experimentation, but doesn't go so far over the edge to accuse the director of creating the next "Changeling." The film follows a 40 year old openly gay man as he recounts the last eight years of his life on tape. Spoiler alert, in case you've been living in a hole, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man elected to public office. He was then shot and killed by a former colleague when he was 48 years old. The film doesn't hide this fact at all, and Van Sant has done everyone a favor by showing actual news footage declaring that Milk was shot and killed. By letting us know this information he avoids treating the audience as if we were idiots. We know what happened to him, there is no reason to hide it, now let's talk about his accomplishments and what a great man he was!
What's a real shame about this picture is that it tends to fall into simple traps set by the traditional bio pic formula, while astonishingly avoiding the more difficult ones such as, back story, family life etc. The film only follows Milk's political career, which helps keep us interested, and doesn't try to answer a question with no answer such as, "What was it in his childhood that inspired Milk to do this?" Such questions are cop-outs that try to explain a public figure, but are actually naive, simple, and frankly insulting to the person whose life you're chronicling.
"Milk" isn't his best work, far from it, but it is a fascinating look at a movement in the United States that refuses to go away. Although this film is set in the 1970's, in California, and debates a key resolution about homosexuality, it is extremely ironic that here in 2008, in California a certain proposition regarding homosexuality has just been passed. What makes the film so effecting is that in the United States, 30 years after his assassination, Harvey Milk helped bring his sexual orientation into the forefront of politics, but it would appear that in California his legacy of progressive change is being challenged.