Milk

The movie Milk is about the first openly gay man that was elected to public office in the United States, Harvey Milk. The film describes the journey of Harvey Milk from the age of 40, when in 1972 he moved to San Francisco with his partner and started being more politically active, defending the rights of gay people at a time when they were stigmatized by conservative America, until he was assasinated in 1978.

I don't know if Gus Van Sant is my favorite director, but I definitely appreciate his style. In this film he describes many events at a brisk pace, never lagging. Among the scenes that were filmed now, real video bits from the '70s were also used. The music used in the movie came mostly from previous decades and dresses the movie in a scenical way. The storyline is not overshadowed by gay romantic scenes, since they start very early in the movie, leaving room for the 'important' parts of Harvey's journey to develop.

Sean Penn, as always, is terrific. In the film there is not even a tiny second that you have doubts about him as a gay activist man, or that you feel he overshadows the movie or the other actors. No need to say more about this, since he won an Oscar for this role. The rest of the cast is great, too. Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Alison Pill.. Although I am not sure if I did not like Diego Luna as Milk's second (in the movie) partner or I did not like his role.

A film worth seeing, since it presents socially important historical facts and people in an artistically wholesome way.

Favorite line: "Can two men reproduce?" "No, but God knows we keep trying."