Stunning Biography

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2009)

Milk is one of the best films of the year and is a safe bet to make an appearance at this year's Oscar contest with Sean Penn almost locked into the favorite role for Best Actor. The film focuses on the gay rights movement in San Francisco in the 1970's and what could have easily boiled down to tired rhetoric is actually quite uplifting and entertaining.
The film's framing device (harvey Milk predicting his own death in a taped interview with himself) is actually a pretty good way to plot out the story line beginning with Milk's arrival in SF and his meeting up with his long time lover (James Franco). The relationship between them is quite accurately observed. Those with an open mind will realize that these are the pitfalls inherent in any long term relationship, gay or straight. Another great performance is delivered by Josh Brolin as Dan White, the council member who finally cracked and whose attorneys came up with the infamous "twinkie defense".
You don't have to be a liberal activist to enjoy Milk. Penn's performance infuses such humanity in the lead that the picture transcends many of the limitations of the biopic genre and makes for quite rousing entertainment regardless of your preconceptions.