THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 10 2010 09:36 | LAST UPDATED Feb 10 2010 09:36

ADVERTISE WITH US | CONTACT US | STORY TIP-OFFS | M&G NEWSLETTER

Arts \| Film

I am Milk

SHAUN DE WAAL - Apr 24 2009 10:15

2 comments | Post your comment

Apparently a long time in gestation, which is to say Hollywood hell, the biopic of Harvey Milk has finally reached the big screen. Milk was the famously gay, and later famously murdered, city councillor for an area of San Francisco that became a gay heartland -- in part as a result of his victories. He was certainly the first public official in the United States to run as an openly gay man and to build a gay political constituency. He used to start his early soapbox speeches with the cry: "My fellow degenerates!"

Milk, as the film is bluntly called, finds the right director in Gus van Sant -- one who has danced around the edges of gay-themed filmmaking without yet making an outright gay film, unless you include the ambiguities and ambivalences of My Own Private Idaho. Perhaps, as critics such as B Ruby Rich have suggested, that makes him "queer" rather than "gay"; he doesn't need or want rigid categories.

Van Sant is also a filmmaker who brings a variety of stylistic inflections to his movies, from an imitation of mainstream populism in Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester to the indie-minimalism of his more recent outings. But then Van Sant's last three (Paranoid Park, Gerry, Last Days) were not released on cinema screens in this country, so you'd have to haunt the DVD dens to check those out.

At any rate, it feels like Milk brings together the styles and strands of Van Sant's filmmaking capacities into one integrated whole. The story is told straightforwardly, with effective use of documentary footage balanced well against the fictionalised recreations -- neither overwhelms the other or gets in the other's way. It's populist enough to provide a powerful depiction of Milk's political campaigns and their underlying drives, but it's not a big flashy picture.

History provides Van Sant and scriptwriter Dustin Lance Black with the perfect device for holding the film together and moving along the storyline. Shortly before his death, Milk recorded an account of his life and his political career. He had received death threats before. He put on tape a sort of autobiography-manifesto, and that gives the filmmakers Milk's own voice to tell us his story. If this tape had not existed, the filmmakers would doubtless have had to invent it, but luckily they didn't have to.

Of course that means the film is very much on Milk's side; he's treated as a hero with practically clayless feet. But, hey, for gay and lesbian people and for progressives with some sense of the role this chapter in American history has played in our own liberation, he is a hero. Simple as that. Members of the African Christian Democratic Party can stay away.

We get Milk's transformation from suit-wearing business type to shaggy-haired hippie opening a camera shop in San Francisco's Castro district, and then his transformation back to shaven-chinned suit-wearer as he sees the importance of image in a political career. In this and other ways, as the film clearly shows, he was not above manipulation; it appears to have played a part in the animosity that led to his death.

The film also shows the negative effects of Milk's political life on his love life, though here is one area it seems to have soft-pedalled matters. We meet two of Milk's lovers, but we are not told about (and certainly not shown) his legendary promiscuity. It's not even hinted at. A lot of sex with different people was part of most gay men's lives in the 1970s, particularly in the gay mecca of San Francisco, so why leave it out? As commentator Mark Simpson notes, Milk himself barely distinguished between campaigning and cruising. Personal, political …

Simpson suggests that this omission has something to do with California's Proposition 8, a new law blocking same-sex marriage, and such campaigns under way while the film was being made. Was there a feeling that gay lives needed a bit of sanitising if they were to be seen as equally deserving of rights? That is a recurrent strategy, and the issue of same-sex marriage itself carries a sanitising or normalising impulse. If there was such a strategy, it didn't work: Prop 8 has just been passed. Ironic in that 30 years ago Milk and his cohorts defeated Proposition 6, aimed at banning gay and lesbian teachers from schools. Ironic, too, in that the film also shows how being "moderate" in such areas seldom helps.

CONTINUES BELOW

However you feel about the politics (and it might be worth catching up with Randy Shilts's book on Milk as well as the acclaimed 1984 documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, just for depth and contrast), Milk is a fine film. It should be seen if only for Sean Penn's note-perfect central performance as Milk -- those who knew him say the revivification is uncanny. Then there's James Franco doing lovely, understated work as Milk's long-time lover Scott Smith, as well as excellent support from the rest of the cast.

I found the film very watchable, believable and moving. Maybe I'm blinkered by my own politics, but as Milk learned three decades before Barack Obama, we do need leaders who offer a little hope.

TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE

People

Sean Penn

Comments

What an amazing film.

Lieza Louw on April 26, 2009, 6:37 am

I too, loved the film.

Paul Harris on May 28, 2009, 11:37 pm

You must be logged in to comment. Log in or sign up to comment

click here to log in

M&G Online Comment Guidelines In Brief

No hate speech;
No racist, sexist or homophobic remarks;
Keep it short;
Keep it on topic;
Show respect to all;
We reserve the right to remove or delete any comment without notice or reason.

Click here for the full Comment Guidelines

Advertising Links

Sean Penn in Milk

Click hereÖ

Your M&G Online

Follow the Mail & Guardian on Twitter!

Direct message us on our mailandguardian account to chat to the M&G Online team.


		THIS WEEK'S PAPER Subscribe Subs promotions Get digital edition

Advertising links

OUDE MEESTER INSURANCE JUNCTION PROPERTY FOR SALE INTERNET SOLUTIONS COMPAQ LAPTOPS	MAP SEARCH HOLIDAY FINDER BID OR BUY INSURANCE YOU CAN TRUST

I am Milk

Tags

People

M&G Online Comment Guidelines In Brief

Your M&G Online

Advertisements

Advertising links