A View of Greatness

Rating: 9/10 (16 September 2009)

This is a remarkably acted film. Not just the Sean Penn performances (which is incredible), but the performances of an ensemble that so beautifully shows us that gay people are people with hopes, fears, and commitments. I recall the case involving the deaths of Harvey Mile and George Moscone in San Francisco. It was a high profile event at the time, but I wasn't mature enough in my views to care that much. This film embodies the cause and the pain and the sheer drive of the man in the title. He is portrayed as a relatively simple man who just happens to be gay, a person of great restlessness who finds himself in something bigger than he is. The film comes to life and carries us in its wave. It also recaptures the spirit of the time. It shows us what an amazing negative force Anita Bryant, a two bit singer, was able to wield over America. But, ultimately, it is a hopeful movie about the fundamental dreams of all people and how just being given the same rights as others is as hard as anything we face.