Milk

Harvey Milk was a cornerstone in the movement for Gay Rights. As the first openly gay politician in the history of the U.S. his story, is of full relevance in our current time. With everything going on right now about the revocation of gay's rights to marriage (why should they be happier than the rest of us anyways), I think it is a very good timing for this movie to come out right now (did this movie come out?? or just its characters?).

Sean Penn does an extraordinary performance, just like Langella made us think he was Nixon (whom he's not)  in Frost / Nixon (buy it), and Rourke made us believe he fights in a ring for a living (which he's actually done) in The Wrestler (rent it), Penn makes us think he's Harvey Milk (whom he clearly is not) and definitely portrays a gay man (whom he... I don't know, he seems not to be, but I have no proof to testify either way), in a very convincing manner.

This story is very cinematic, it does move back and forth with full intrigue and takes us visually throughout the different stages of Milks political career.  I also think it is, as I mentioned above, very relevant and it should be promoted just for the educational value of it. After this movie I somehow envisioned Harvey Milk as the MLK of homosexuality. 

The rest of the cast is hard to single out, though Josh Brolin is the only one nominated, the gay roles, in their own styles, of James Franco, Diego Luna and Emil Hirsch are notable. Wether Josh Brolin's character is straight or there's latent homosexuality is for the audience to decide.

The Plot in a sense reminded me of American Beauty in that you know first-hand that the protagonist will die at the end, but you want in for the experience of what will happen in between now and the moment when death actually strikes. 

Hollywood, is a little behind ( a little behind? ) the european film industry in addressing the gay issue. In the not too distant past I can remember two good movies that address such issue, Brokeback Mountain (quite suggestive title) (Rent it), and a slight touching (touching??) of the theme in Far From Heaven (Buy it).  I could rate Milk a Steal it, but if you did and went to jail for it, I'm afraid of the dire consequences it could have upon you if word got out on why you were there . (Let's say I don't want you to become anyone's mistress against your will). So I will rate Milk with a Buy it.

Regardless of wether you like gay people or not, you have to come to terms with the fact that homophobia is the racism of our generation and if we've come a long way to learn to accept our differences amongst races, cultures, religions (Religious tolerance hasn't happened but it will be our next challenge for later this century), we need to accept and embrace differences in sexual orientation (after all, as Woody Allen said, being bisexual automatically doubles your chances of getting a date for Saturday night). And if you do say you like gay people, don't be hypocritical and let them have the same rights as the rest of us do, which is to choose their own partner for marriage and set up their own family because remember a family is not about sex, it's about love.