I heard Milk was a great film, but it still exceeded expectations. Milk isn’t a gay movie about politics. It’s a political movie about gays. I feel as if I just left San Francisco in the late 70s. The movie began with the dire urgency of taking over Castro Street and ended with a semi-colon. While the grainy footage of Anita Bryant makes 1978 feel like history, the issues facing gays in America look exactly the same today. Gus Van Sant made a historical biopic centered on an issue that is anything but history. Having only finished watching this movie moments ago, I’m left pondering issues of civil rights and activism in a way that no movie has before. The noticeable lack of tie dye and peace signs makes me wonder if gay rights is civil rights final frontier. I recommend any movie that makes you think, so I obviously think everyone should check this out.

The biographical drama is a well-worn genre and while it allows for important stories to be told, the conventions often will make the films a bit boring. Luckily with Gus Van Sant’s Milk he avoids the traps and with a wonderful performance by Sean Penn, the film blends a bit of documentary with solid performances and a bit of style to create a film that is powerful and entertaining. Establishing the context and touching on early and significant moments in Harvey Milk’s life, the film focuses mainly on Milk’s activist and political career in a clever balancing of the needs of the biographical story and a character study. The film is filled with an infectious energy and enthusiasm of those who surrounded Milk as played by the great cast. Van Sant handles with the film with a light touch and the two hours breeze by as we watch the brave and bold fighter for gay rights struggle and laugh and live.