Get MILK! : Penn is a revelation in one of the year's best and most inspiring films

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2009)

MILK (2008) **** Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill, Victor Garber, Denis O'Hare, Joseph Cross, Stephen Spinella, Lucas Grabeel, Brandon Boyce, Howard Rosenman, Kelvin Yu. Penn gives a career high performance as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official of San Francisco, during the historical '70s paving the way for gay rights and activism to the nth degree in pursuing a political career while maintaining his dignity, integrity and free spirit until his slaying by fellow supervisor Dan White (Brolin walking the fine wire of brilliance in making a possible caricature into a full-blooded human being; warts and all) in 1978. Filmmaker Gus Van Sant's dedication and talent trailblazed the biopic (after nearly 20 years) and the straight-forward (no pun intended) screenplay by Dustin Lance Black gives a fine etching of the man and the myth. But it is buoyed by the total immersion of Penn who gives an Oscar worthy (and the film as a whole as well) performance; one of the year's very best and an inspiration to the human spirit at its greatest.