Back when I had just come out, I was looking to see where I fit in the world and, with a fresh sense of having survived a time that was a personal hell, I wanted to find the other heroes and heroines who had done the same. As this was pre-internet, I hopped off to the library and buried myself in novels by James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Christopher Isherwood and, especially, Edmund White.

But, while I was digging through to find anything gay in the library, I happened across a reference to some bloke called Harvey Milk and hero-worship was born.

Harvey Milk (left) was a closeted, Jewish investment banker from New York who managed to harness the outraged energy of the gay community post-Stonewall into a political force to be reckoned with.

Life during the 1960′s was tough for him. He lost three partners to suicide which was brought on from the horrific pressures society put on gay men. His whole life, Milk blamed himself, thinking that if he could have come out and feel no shame, they could have lived. When he turned 40 his partner, Scott, and he decided to put some flowers in their hair and head to San Francisco. Once there, he dedicated his life to getting rid of the closet for ever.

For me, the prospect of a biopic about Harvey made be worry, the director would have to understand San Francisco in the 70s, the pre-AIDS free sex, the feeling that people can change the world, the whole hippy gorgeousness of it. Also, who would play Harvey? My personal concern was that Harvey was a bit camp so “please who ever plays him don’t do a camp impersonation”.

I need not have worried. Gus van Sant, the most successful gay director in Hollywood history and Sean Penn, mister serious actor. Perfect.

The film is beautifully constructed, book-ended by Penn as Milk (right) dictating his policital life story while sitting in his kitchen. It starts with Milk’s arrival in San Francisco, all hippy hair and gay muscles, happy and in love. But he sees that, even though gays make up most the the Castro area in which he lives, businesses treat them like lepers. He decides to use the power of the pink dollar and tell people where to go and spend their money, supporting those businesses which are gay friendly. It was then that he discovered how powerful he, and his band of gay men, could be, eventually becoming the first openly gay man to be elected into office in the US.

When in office he comes up against the villain of the piece – Anita Bryant. In a move which is inspired, van Sant uses real footage of Bryant during her gay witch-hunt in which she spouts some of the hateful religious ire we are still hearing from evangelical Christians.

To say that Penn’s performance as Milk is a powerhouse does it an injustice, he is Harvey with every sway of the head and shake of the fist. He has the smile down, the intonation of speech, the love of life – it’s all there.

But it’s not just Penn who shines, Emile Hirsch (who was in Penn’s recent directorial outing Into the Wild) gets into the skin of Cleve Jones, one of the many who were part of Harvey’s political workers and the man who started the AIDS Memorial Quilt in later years. James Franco is also spot on as Scott, the love of Harvey’s life.

And then there’s Josh Brolin as Dan White. Dan White was a troubled man, a co-worker of Harvey on the board of supervisors (the county council) of San Francisco. He and Harvey could have been political allies but society and White’s upbringing just wouldn’t allow it. Brolin plays his beautifully, a lost man desperately trying to fit into this new world. With tragic results.

Milk is everything I wanted it to be. If you think it overstates how important Harvey was, just pick up a newspaper or surf the net, and you’ll see how desperately we still need him. This film couldn’t have come at a more important time.

Milk goes on general release in Ireland on Jan 16, but you can be first to see it at the GAZE premiere on January 8 at 6.30pm in the IFI. Tickets are €10.
Book online through IFI.ie or by calling 01 679 3477.

Popularity: 1% [?]

No related posts.