"You have to give them HOPE...." so true!

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2009)

Who am I to tell.....I'm not gay, I'm not a movies director, I'm not a writer, I'm not a man. But still.... I would like my son to see this movie, when he's old enough. Why? For being able to act with empathy and tolerance towards people, who are different than one is.
I'm different. I had a suppressed youth in a little town. To have a boyfriend was absolute out of question.....I declared myself a fighter back then. A Freedom-Fighter. Then I started to blend in, to mask myself. I was never really convincing, but I tried, still do.
I live in a unbelievably huge city now....where you can find ways, ways to be yourself. But mostly I isolate myself. So I understand Mr. Milk very well, how he must felt, when he was saying "I'm 40 and I haven't done anything to be proud of". If you're different and you still try hard to blend in everyday, then you do no good to yourself or others. Then, you just go on and just exist. But if you fight, you can always help others to feel free, to feel joy, by just exposing yourself and set an example. I hope I will find the courage to do that one day.
The country I am living in, could use some Harvey Milk's! A friend tells me, she was sitting in a parked car recently with her boyfriend and she realized she was in an dangerous district....because the policemen came and where very rude and hostile and frightening.... I know young people, who are afraid of exposing their longer hair in some areas of the city. There are some hostile groups who "patrol" and beat boys up, who have long hair or dress differently. They need hope! I was needing hope during my puberty years.
What will happen, when everybody is blending in, everybody is hiding and acting to be "appropriate"? The world will become a gray, dull place. I would not want my son being a part of that dull world. So, I put this movie on my list of "must see movies" and I will make sure, that my son will receive this list when he's 16.
The male kissing was put in on purpose I guess. And well done. My husband will sure dislike it and will probably be disgusted by it (like most of the typical heterosexual men are...), but that's no reason NOT to put that in. They all are just disgusted by male intimacy because they don't see it often enough. In my country we don't see enough mini skirts, not enough bright colored clothing, not enough ethnic people, not enough man-woman intimacy, never ever heterosexual kissing on the streets or in bars.....so when we see one of the above things..... we tend to STARE....like apes who see the mono-lit (A.C.Clark's stone). And we get confused and disturbed and even disgusted and attack.....This hostility is just primitive and sucks up all the good energy, we could use to improve our lives.
I was never a fan of Sean Penn, but I'm a fan of Gus Van Sant and Emile Hirsch and I believe in Penn's work since I watched "Into the wild" directed by him with Emile Hirsch in the lead role. All the actors and actress in "Milk" were very very good, everyone can see that! It was moving and insightful. We need more movies of that kind! I don't like biopics, I always walk away in disappointment ant the end, because it leaves me with nothing but sadness and emptiness. But Milk gave me inspiration and hope, and thats big!