A dramatic depiction of the political career and assassination of Harvey Milk

Rating: 9/10 (16 March 2009)

I actually lived in the "Castro" (aka Eureka Valley) during the time Harvey Milk was a Supervisor and I can tell you that, as an 11 year old living through them, the events of November 27, 1978 were terrifying-all the more so since they came not even 2 weeks after the Jonestown massacre and the assassination of Congressman Leo Ryan. Gus Van Sant does a very good job overall in depicting with a minimum of gratuitous melodrama some already dramatic events. As for Sean Penn, he does his usual stellar job. He knew better than to just mimic Harvey (Penn is both shorter and more introspective than the real Harvey was, anyway). Instead, he gives the viewer a touching and very personal interpretation of Harvey's character/mannerisms etc. He shows us Harvey's vulnerability and his humanity without resorting to cheap mimicry. And, Josh Brolin!!!! He was robbed of the Oscar here. He does an absolutely fabulous job in giving the viewer a sensitive interpretation of Dan White's character. When you see Brolin marching around City Hall, you can truly see that this man, Dan White, was truly deeply troubled and highly pressurized inside himself. Brolin invokes pity when he could have just played White as the Twinkie eating psycho he is in popular mythology. In the end, "Milk" is a great film because it avoids the stereotypes it could have invoked (and gotten away with).