Sean Penn is the first to be showered with accolades for his work in “Milk”, and understandably so. He dissolves effortlessly into his role as Harvey Milk, the real-life gay rights activist and San Francisco City Supervisor who was tragically assassinated in 1978, without a residual “Penn-ness” to give away the role as a performance. But it would be unfair to single Penn out when there so many other cast members who deliver similarly un-self-conscious performances of equal strength and emotional power. James Franco, who first gained attention in the acclaimed but cruelly canceled TV series “Freaks and Geeks,” has the task of being the man behind the man, Milk’s lover Scott Smith, who is at once supportive and overwhelmed by Milk’s political activism. We’ve seen Franco offer nuance and depth of feeling, even in films like “Spider-man,” and it’s no different with “Milk,” although the stakes, perhaps, are higher given the film’s biographical nature. Also notable is, of course, Josh Brolin who leaves behind the tormented cowboy persona of “No Country for Old Men” and takes on the tragic, ambiguous, tortured person of Dan White, the City Supervisor who assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone (played in the film by Victor Garber). Brolin is fast becoming – isn’t he already there? – one of those strong actors, like a Redford or a Kingsley, who dazzle not with flashy performances, but deep psychologies that roil beneath the surface of their roles. And of the supporting cast, take your pick: Diego Luna as the loving but disturbed Jack Lira, or Allison Pill as Anne Kronenberg, or Emile Hersh as Cleve Jones, or someone else. Any of them merits more than just a pat on the head for a job well done, stepping up to the documentary task set up by director Gus Van Sant.
Arguably, a Documentary
And “documentary” actually isn’t too bad a word to describe “Milk,” even if it is largely illusory – the old question as to how “real” a film can depict, summarize, or otherwise re-enact historical events. Van Sant keeps the blatantly cinematic flourishes to a minimum, letting the style be subsumed into a kind of cinema verite rather than emphasize the artifice of the medium. But perhaps more noteworthy is Dustin Lance Black’s excellent script, which manages the rather nifty feat of taking what could be a depressing moment in history – assassinations make for unlikely inspirations – and somehow fashioning a history lesson, character portrait, and rousing call to arms that isn’t artificially pumped with happy juice, but isn’t bleak either. “Milk” captures a revolutionary fervour, taps into moral outrage over social injustice, and celebrates the life of America’s first openly gay man to serve in public office while mourning his death.
Disappointingly, the film was released after the Nov. 4 election, thereby blunting any possible effect on California’s struggle against the anti-gay marriage Prop. 8 although, perhaps, galvanizing a new gay rights movement. With Prop. 8’s obvious parallel to 1978’s Prop. 6 – the Briggs Initiative, named after state legislator John Briggs, that would have mandated firing gay teachers and possibly even gay rights supporters – the controversy circling around Prop. 8 could have benefited from a look back into (recent) history. And in this respect, Focus Features’ aversion to partisanship and political detonations seems at odds with the can-do, must-do spirit of Milk’s activism. That the film can be used as agit-prop in no way diminishes its artistic and educational achievements – not to mention its grand capacity to entertain – and given the very nature of any biography of Harvey Milk, politics are not only inescapable, they are necessary. For all the value there might be in the congratulatory navel-gazing of hindsight, who knows how the vote could have been different if “Milk” had been released early and shaken gay rights activists out of their complacent belief that surely California, that most enlightened of states, would not stoop so shamefully low as to enshrine discrimination. The point is moot, however. Yet the film’s superlative accomplishment as powerful cinema remains.
Entertainment Value: ** (out of two)
Technical Quality: ** (out of two)
Gold star!
Milk. Written by Dustin Lance Black. Directed by Gus Van Sant. Starring Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hersh, Diego Luna and Victor Garber. 127 minutes. Rated R for language, some sexual content, and brief violence.
Frédérik invites you to discuss this movie and other movies at his blog (frederik-sisa.blogspot.com).