eric262003 When it comes to biopics, the thing that stands out for me is the feeling I'm entering the lives of another person's life and hoping that I cab get a bigger picture of that person and get a better understanding of their triumphs and failures in hope that if I meet a person similar to that character I would feel more confident if ever I should approach them. The 2008 Oscar winning film "Milk" directed by Gus Van Sant follows the the remaining eight eventful years of Harvey Milk's life as he makes the transition from a complete unknown to a being one the first openly gay political official as part of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. As I mentioned in the title, "Milk" isn't entirely on coming out as gay during a time when homosexuality wasn't tolerated but more of chasing your dreams to reach your fullest potential regardless of what obstacles stand in your way.Back in 2008, "Milk" was given a plethora of accolades in the film industry most noteworthy being the sublime performance by Sean Penn as the titular character. With the make-up, costumes and molding of his character traits, Penn wasn't just playing Harvey Milk, he was Harvey Milk. His character was portrayed as a calmly spoken, idealistic novice politician who overcame incredible odds like standing up to the government giants while tackling the prejudices he faced in his personal life. In keeping the balance between his work and home, it was his job to cater to the emotional needs of his partner Scott Smith (James Franco) as he discover the world has become more public and that he made it his decision to pun for a political office as time and ambition was drawing near. After many years of Franco starring in a stream of action films and comedy it was great to see him in a more dramatic film and he pulled it off flawlessly.Aside from Penn and Franco's performances, the supporting characters are also quite effective in not only their acting, but by their physical characteristics as well. Josh Brolin was effective as Milk's fellow colleague and rival Dan White and the chilling tale of his character is quite the thing that'll make your skin crawl. Emile Hirsch as Harvey's associates Cleve Jones was effective, though his screen time was limited.After the events that happened here between 1970-1978, it has been maybe only recently that North America has found more acceptance to the LGBT community and has made great strides in helping these individuals be happy with the skin they own and not have to live in fear and despair. Harvey Milk was a man who set out on a journey to overcome the odds to help his people prosper and to stand proud and open up and to say there are millions out there like him and they're not afraid of who they are and no one else should be. By coming out and admitting one's orientation was the pivotal step for one to crush the walls of homophobia and that everyone must co-exist. If more people were to accept those and not judge, the world would be a better place.I liked how Van Sant utilized archive footage to the film which adds authenticity to the narrative giving this film a dose of realism to the script. In this way he's doing it as a contribution to the cause as opposed to just arbitrarily pasting it into the scenes. The approach here has a more caring side to it contrary to being preachy and just unmercifully rubbing it in our faces.Change can be good or bad depending on one's point of view, and the goal that Harvey Milk embarked on was that he wasn't asking for a lot, but just wanted the world to be a little more accepting and a lot less negative and his dreams was not just to make homosexual people's life a little more caring for the world around them but to have a strong leader in the political spectrum to stand up for them. Sure the theme is on homosexual acceptance, but in this big world we live in we face struggles in every aspect of life making "Milk" a more universally themed movie.

merelyaninnuendo MilkUnlike any other biography, it floats on to its wisely picked specific topics and stays true to its nature throughout the course of the feature which is of around 2 hours and is filled with enough material to feed the audience. Gus Van Sant's attempt is plausible and visible but it fails to project the aspired on-paper script that is adapted powerfully and written brilliantly by Dustin Lance Black. Sean Penn; as the protagonist of the feature, is doing some of his career's best work here that is not easy to ignore and is supported well enough by the cast like Josh Brolin and James Franco who holds tightly onto their parts. Milk has a smart written script that is unfortunately not executed to the perfection (it sticks to you throughout the feature) but is overpowered by stellar performance and a heart right at the centre of it.

Screen_Blitz Following the 1960s when America struck a chord with the Civil Rights Movement that helped fight against the prejudice against African-Americans, was the election of San Francisco's supervisor Harvey Milk, who made a name for himself when he became the first gay man in American history to take office as supervisor. This event made history during the years of when the homosexual community faced with mass intolerance from citizens left and right. Ranging from religious reasons, to outright insecurity of sexuality; citizens everywhere, particularly the Conservatives, found it difficult to bear homosexuals as functioning individuals of society, going as far as to call them "rapists", "child molesters", "freaks", the list goes on. Many people feared these kinds of individuals were mortal threats to society. This engaging historical biopic directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) paints an awe-inspiring picture of the titular man's journey to making history in one of our country's most intolerant times, from his 40th birthday to his infamous assassination in 1978. Sean Penn plays Harvey Milk, a man from New York who moves to San Francisco, California with his lover Scott Smith (played by James Franco) where they witness extreme hostility against gay individuals by the hands of the public including the police force. Milk decides it's time to take a stand against society's bigotry and launches a movement in an outcry for equal rights. With young college kid Cleve Jones (played by Emile Hirsch) and Scott by his side, Milk runs for office and leads a fight to secure gay rights while facing conflict against Conservative attorney Dan White (played by Josh Brolin) and Senator John Briggs (played by Denis O'Hare).Unless you are a member of the LGBT community or lived in San Francisco during the 70s, there's a fair chance you're not familiar with Harvey Milk. But by many means, this biopic shines light on what made him one of the most influential political figures in the history of our country, and Gus Van Sant handles the story with realism and sincerity. Opening up with shots of archival news footage dealing with crime and brutality against the homosexual community, the movie gives a clear sneak peak of what we are getting into. We are then introduced to a barely recognizable Sean Penn and James Franco with a scraggly 70s hair style in 1970 when their two characters first meet and begin their intimate relationship. Their story continues in later years when they bear witness to the harsh maltreatment against the homosexual community as the population rapidly increases. These moments hit hard and paint a clear picture of the tyranny the gay community faced. From there on, Harvey Milk's story from his beginning days of activism to rise in the political ladder progress in an inspiring story. Gus Van Sant does a pleasant job of not only humanizing the characters of both sides of the central political issue, but handles the plot in a way that tells a compelling story without sparking tediousness by focusing more on the subject matter than the storytelling. The story hits many crucial spots including the outcry of the Christian community, the fight against the Preposition 6 that allowed schools to fire teachers who were found gay, and the complex relationship between Milk and attorney Dan White. And the thanks to Gus Van Sant'a execution, the story delivers with wit. Sean Penn and James Franco are tremendous in their roles, as is Josh Brolin as the titular character's rival. The cast gives the best of their talent to the point where you can't help to admire how committed these actors are. Milk is an outstanding historical biopic with an endearing performance by lead Sean Penn, and pays a great tribute to a man who made American history. Whether you agree with the political views of the titular figure or not, this film paints a great cinematic effort and brings it to life with Gus Van Sant's incredible direction. It is a film that is not powerfully presented, but falls astonishingly relatable of what still goes on today.

blakelogsdon1 As a man that comes from a long line of milkmen, I was very excited to hear there was going to be a movie named Milk. Finally, Hollywood had latched onto the compelling and exhilarating story that surrounds the rise and fall of the dairy industry! Corporate farms, mass-scale shipments, cheese production! What more could viewers hope for? The history of the milk companies in this country is thrilling to say the least, and it is filled with new truths at every turn. For example, who would have thought that California leads the country in milk output annually? Not me! And I don't believe the majority of audiences would have seen that twist coming either! This exciting, eventful tale would be a nice change from the unstimulating, dull superhero and alien invasion flicks that are currently being spewed out of the bowels of the Hollywood studios.But when I learned that this was not a film about the story of the milk companies in the US and instead about some gay dude trying to do a bunch of gay politics, I felt as if I was drowning. And not even drowning in milk, which is a death I would be happy to endure. I was drowning in the hot, steamy liquid of betrayal produced by Hollywood's homosexual community. The very same community that had tricked me with this tomfoolery of a movie. For some reason, the film companies decided that America needed to hear the story of some gay milkman imposter than a true, realistic story on the origin and evolution of America's dairy corporations. I would like to say that the makers of this film are corrupt, lying, evil swindlers, and if they don't think the dairy world will fight back against the distribution of this movie, then they thought wrong! Because the dairymen and dairywomen of the world are a family! And we are also an army! An army that can crush the movie industry as a whole with one swift flick of the utter! So, you better watch out writer Dustin Lance Black and director Gus Van Sant because we aren't coming at you with 2% of our force. We're coming at you with the WHOLE thing. And it ain't going to be pretty. You've been warned.Sincerely, Your fellow IMDb user blakelogsdon1