Hello, my name is Harvey Milk and I want to recruit you!

Rating: Null/10 (4 April 2009)

Whatever else Sean Penn might be, he has shown over and over that he is one of the finest actors of his generation. Here he is Harvey Milk and the best compliment is that we soon forget we are watching Penn.
While my comments may have spoilers, the whole story is factual, the characters are real people, so everyone should already know the basic story and how it turns out.
This story starts in New York where Milk is still trying to stay in the closet, hiding his gay lifestyle from co-workers, but he sees an attractive young man, James Franco as Scott Smith, and they hook up. Eventually they move to San Francisco as a couple and start a business, a small camera shop.
This is the 1970s, before gay rights began to have widespread acceptance, so Milk's life story there involves working to change that. He decides to do so by running for political office. His first few attempts are not successful, but he is persistent, gradually adding young activists to his team. Together he finally gets elected to the office of City Supervisor for his area (there were several elected City Supervisors, sort of like councilmen).
Josh Brolin is another City Supervisor, from a different area, Dan White, married and with a family. White and Milk form an unlikely alliance, to try to get things passed that they both had interests in. The way it is presented makes the audience wonder if White had suppressed homosexual tendencies.
The other key character is Victor Garber as Mayor George Moscone.
The story is significant for its place in US history, the gay rights activist Harvey Milk setting the stage for reforms which continue to lead to establishing gay rights. But the whole story is less interesting than Sean Penn's performance as Milk, a performance that won him Best Actor.
MAJOR SPOILER: As history witnessed, Dan White went to city offices that fateful day, with a gun, and killed both Milk and Moscone. The movie depicts this as a result of White having resigned his job, then wanting that resignation rescinded, but Milk convinced Moscone to appoint someone else. White felt betrayed.