One of the best films of this year tells a story about a gay man murdered 30 years ago.
"Milk" is based on the story of Harvey Milk, the country's first openly gay elected official. Sean Penn delivers one of the best performances of his career in a film that is as much about gay rights as civil rights, as it is the story of one man.
Director Gus Van Sant starts "Milk" with the 39-year-old Harvey Milk living a clandestine gay life as an accountant in New York.
A chance meeting with a younger man named Scott Smith (James Franco), who is unwilling to live life in the closet, leads the straight-laced Harvey to chuck his old life and move to San Francisco with his new-found lover.
In San Francisco, Harvey and Scott set themselves up in an apartment and Harvey opens a camera shop in the gay-friendly Castro Street district.
Things are more open and relaxed in San Francisco but not free of conflict, with gay bashing and taunts still common occurrences around the city. Eventually, Harvey finds himself involved in politics on the grassroots level.
Although the film is set in the 1970s, the story could not be more timely, given current events. The film "Milk" was inspired by the real life Harvey Milk, who was elected city supervisor, a position akin to an alderman, representing the predominantly gay Castro district in 1977 San Francisco.
Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were murdered by Dan White (Josh Brolin), a conservative city supervisor, in one of the most sensationalized crimes of the late '70s.
White claimed at his trial that he was acting under the influence of too much junk food and sugar in his diet and was given a shockingly light sentence for the two murders.
Curiously, the political right, who came to dominate the country two years later with the election of Ronald Reagan, later ridiculed this "Twinkie defense" as a symptom of irresponsible liberal behavior, although the person who used the defense was a conservative.
However, "Milk" is less about this known history than what came before it.
We meet the people involved in both Harvey Milk's personal and political lives.
Milk's gay rights political movement starts out operating informally out of his camera shop. Emile Hirsch plays one of the early organizers, Cleve Jones, whom Milk recruits to the cause after a chance encounter on the street.
Milk and his activists eventually learn that they have to offer voters more than one issue and forge neighbor coalitions across interests for the good of the whole community.
"Milk" is packed with outstanding performances, presented in a remarkably rich visual style. Director Gus Van Sant's previous works include indie hits "Elephant" and "Gerry" and the more mainstream "Good Will Hunting." In "Milk," his direction is subdued but flawlessly executed.
An example of its striking visual creativity is a scene where a gay man had been attacked on the street.
Gay rights organizers has been distributing polished metal whistles for gays to blow in case of such attacks, and the scene's action of activist Milk arriving at the crime scene is shown as a reflection in the whistle lying on the ground, a technique at once visually striking, cinematically clear and remarkably moving.
Sean Penn's performance is a powerhouse, but outstanding acting is everywhere with this top-notch ensemble cast. James Franco adds another uptick to his already building screen resumé, as Scott Smith, Milk's longtime, and long-suffering, companion.
Scott is the human anchor to Milk's manic commitment to politics, early on acting as his primary community organizer.
Emile Hirsch nearly vanishes inside his portrayal of political right-hand man Cleve Jones. Gifted Mexican actor Diego Luna delivers a touching performance as Milk's later, non-political, unstable lover Jack Lira.
Josh Brolin transformed himself yet again, following memorable characters in "No Country For Old Men" and the lead in Oliver Stone's "W.," into the tightly wound Dan White. Alison Pill as organizer Anne Kronenberg and Victor Garber as Mayor George Moscone add fine touches in lesser roles.
Van Sant's firm hand crafts these wonderful portrayals into a film that transcends its story of one man, to create a human and compelling case for gay rights as human rights.
Simply as cinema, "Milk" is destined to be one of the year's best, a must-see film in every sense.
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