Milk and Honey

Rating: 10/10 (4 September 2009)

2008; a year that has given us blockbuster fodder and low brow plot lines. One film comes out shining from a year of sporadic thumbs up and down; Gus Van Sant's Milk. After this year's election, you may be sick and tired of the words 'change' and 'maverick', but it is hard not to utter those words without knowing who Harvey Milk was: a Long Island businessman who changed the political climate by becoming the first openly gay man to hold a seat in public office. Finally, someone can cross John McCain out of the definition of maverick.
The film begins in San Francisco, 1978. Harvey Milk recollects his life into a tape recorder days before being assassinated by fellow worker, Dan White. It may seem like an overly dramatic opening to tug at the Oscar crowd, but Milk's love of the theater made him want to give a strong final bow. Thus, begins the odyssey into Milk's life as a businessman, activist, and lover.
Who could be better suited to cover the liberating energy and electricity of 1970s San Francisco than Gus Van Sant? Van Sant's use of stock footage and 16mm cameras brilliantly capture Castro Street at the peak of its civil unrest towards the bigotry and violence that has manifested itself from the likes of Anita Bryant and the local police. Van Sant and cinematographer Harris Savides revive the steady cam shot intensity used in Elephant and is blended with the quick-pace editing reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.
The driving force behind this brilliant film is the breed of astonishing actors. James Franco casts aside the tangled web of Spiderman films and delivers an incredible performance as Scott Stevens, Milk's lover. You see the vulnerability and fear behind his seductive charm. Emile Hirsh bowled over audiences last year with Into the Wild. He raises the bar with his second collaboration with Sean Penn as Cleve Jones, the street hustler turned political adviser for Harvey Milk, whose flamboyance and liveliness illuminate the screen.
From stoner-surfer Jeff Spicolli to his Oscar award-winning role in Mystic River, Sean Penn has delivered 25 years of astounding and solid performances. Milk is Penn's finest hour as he gives his most powerful performance in his career. He doesn't just emulate Harvey Milk, he is Harvey Milk. The compassion and political rage Penn has been widely known for is channeled into a man, whose voice is as loud as it was thirty years ago from Proposition 6 to Proposition 8. It's a little early to tell who should be snagging an Oscar nomination, but after seeing his performance as Harvey Milk, it is safe to say that Penn will not be cast asunder from the public eye.
Next to Penn, Josh Brolin's performance as Milk's assailant, Dan White, is remarkably intense and stunning. Brolin has given back-to-back stellar performances in No Country For Old Men and W. His portrayal as Dan White is one of great depth and intrigue into the mind of a man who acted out on fear and envy by ending the lives of Milk and Mayor George Moscone. As you get into the heart of the film, you look at the man behind the political mask as he slowly loses his balance, such as getting into a drunken heated argument with Milk or masking his contempt while watching him on TV.
Milk is an important film, not just the fact that it tells the story of a true American hero, but it is a film that looks at the fine line between intolerance and change in American politics. Thirty years after Milk's death, his life and legacy remains as strong as ever, and it takes a devoted group of actors and a brilliant director, like Van Sant, to tell his story.