January 26, 2009
Harvey Milk was the first openly gay publically elected official in the US. In 1978, he became a San Francisco City Supervisor, a role which would lead to his assassination just 11 months later. He was 48. Gus Van Sant’s biopic of an icon of the gay rights movement is a timely reminder of the ideological chasms which underpin the American political landscape at a time when - symbolically at least - a new era has dawned on US politics. The forces that Harvey Milk struggled against, most notably from Christian fundamentalists who sought to demonise homosexuality and a police force which violently persecuted the gay community, were powerful indeed. Milk is a tribute to his perseverance and his courage.
Whether Van Sant really makes the most of the story is another matter. Somehow the film lacks a sense of theatre. Adding dramatic tension but staying honest to historical events is hard to do, and one feels that Van Sant chooses to play safe here. He is confident that the story of the life of Harvey Milk and the gay rights movement is strong enough, and in many ways, it is. Sean Penn plays the lead role with wit and energy, a great performance, and the film is superbly unstylised in depicting 1970s San Francisco, aided by the faultless integration of documentary footage of new reports and campaign speeches. In fact, some of the strongest scenes in Milk are those of advocates of Proposition 6 - a bill which sought to ban gay people from working in public schools - spouting hateful homophobia with the impunity that only the religious right can truly muster.
But though the film is structured around Milk’s own memoirs, recorded in anticipation of the bullets that would kill him, somehow the device doesn’t add the dramatic depth it should. It doesn’t mythologize Milk, but the film also refuses to look at any darker aspects to his political career or his life. The changing terms of his relationship with long-time lover Scott Smith (James Franco), for example, are glossed over, whilst his relationship with political rival Dan White is never fully explored. There is also no sense of impending tragedy, no feeling that Milk is playing with forces beyond his control. Something is missing here, a willingness to get in touch with the conflicts and contradictions which characterise ordinary and important lives alike. The bigger picture takes prominence over a human story which could have been even more gripping.
I enjoyed Milk, and would certainly recommend it. In another director’s hands, this startling story could have even greater pathos.
Whether Van Sant really makes the most of the story is another matter. Somehow the film lacks a sense of theatre. Adding dramatic tension but staying honest to historical events is hard to do, and one feels that Van Sant chooses to play safe here. He is confident that the story of the life of Harvey Milk and the gay rights movement is strong enough, and in many ways, it is. Sean Penn plays the lead role with wit and energy, a great performance, and the film is superbly unstylised in depicting 1970s San Francisco, aided by the faultless integration of documentary footage of new reports and campaign speeches. In fact, some of the strongest scenes in Milk are those of advocates of Proposition 6 - a bill which sought to ban gay people from working in public schools - spouting hateful homophobia with the impunity that only the religious right can truly muster.
But though the film is structured around Milk’s own memoirs, recorded in anticipation of the bullets that would kill him, somehow the device doesn’t add the dramatic depth it should. It doesn’t mythologize Milk, but the film also refuses to look at any darker aspects to his political career or his life. The changing terms of his relationship with long-time lover Scott Smith (James Franco), for example, are glossed over, whilst his relationship with political rival Dan White is never fully explored. There is also no sense of impending tragedy, no feeling that Milk is playing with forces beyond his control. Something is missing here, a willingness to get in touch with the conflicts and contradictions which characterise ordinary and important lives alike. The bigger picture takes prominence over a human story which could have been even more gripping.
I enjoyed Milk, and would certainly recommend it. In another director’s hands, this startling story could have even greater pathos.