Vielka's Guide to the Movies: Milk

Milk discusses the political life of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician. He was assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor. Although a bit of research or listening to Fresh Air would have gotten you this far, I got sort of a "Titanic" feel--I knew he was going to be shot, but I really didn't want him to. I admit, a salty discharge aka, a tear, fell from my eye at that point. Great work Gus Van Sant! I also had a moment of thinking back to "Philadelphia," and wanting to get into opera.

Sean Penn-Awesome! He's always great though. I was surprised by James Franco and Diego Luna, one being good and the other being awful. I wasn't expecting much from Mr. Pineapple Express, but dude really delivered! And from watching "Y Tu Mama Tambien" among others, I was really surprised by how bad Luna is in "Milk." I was thinking about when straight actors play gay characters. Do they automatically start taking with a lisp and flick their wrists? Well, that was Luna's take, to the point of annoyance. I'm not sure how the character was in actuality, but watching him portrayed on the big screen via Luna, really was getting to me.

I was also a bit annoyed with the lack of folks of color in the movie. I mean, what's with the Clint Eastwood interpretation of events? I mean, can I get some folks of color in the crowd shots? It was 1980s San Francisco! There had to be some folks of color in the Castro, right?

I think the greatest contribution "Milk" makes is allowing an audience to see homosexuals as politicians: working for their constituents be they gay or straight. Often times we assume the black politician will only be out for the black folks, and so on. Or we assume that having the chapter on the Haitian Revolution in a textbook will do great things for black people only. We forget that we all benefit when the boot pressing down on oppressed peoples in lifted, if even slightly and for a moment.