Sean Penn Gives a Brilliant Performance in a Superb Period Biopic
If you have even a passing interest in American politics, you'll want to see the lively, emotionally engaging Milk (2008), which was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film won Oscars for Best Actor (Sean Penn) and Best Original Screenplay (Dustin Lance Black). Penn is supported by a fine cast that includes Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna and James Franco. The movie was elegantly directed by Gus Van Sant.
The film is about Harvey Milk (Penn), an openly gay man who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors back in 1977. The following year, Milk and the city's mayor were assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin in an Oscar-nominated performance). The movie makes the historical events come alive as the characters are caught up in an early battle in the ongoing American culture war.
Milk drifted through life until he was in his early 40s, then joined the migration of gay men to San Francisco's Castro District, where he opened a camera shop and went into politics. He helped form an alliance between the gay community and the Teamsters that went up against Coors. He was instrumental in getting a law requiring dog owners to clean up after their pets. But his most significant activity was to support making it illegal to discriminate in jobs and housing based on sexual orientation, which brought him into conflict with a national crusade spearheaded by pop singer Anita Bryant.
Milk is an upbeat film about a man with the courage to stand up for what he thought was right, and he was able to make a difference.
DVD Bonus Materials
The Milk DVD contains 39 minutes of supplementary materials, but they do little to enhance the viewers' appreciation of the feature film. Neither lead actor Sean Penn nor director Gus Van Sant participates.
There are three deleted scenes, the most fun one of which shows Milk campaigning for supervisor. Dressed like a clown, he steps onto a moving cable car and talks to passengers.
In "Remembering Harvey," people who knew Milk personally reminisce about him. Included are campaign manager Anne Kronenberg (played by Alison Pill) and Milk protégé Cleve Jones (played by Emile Hirsch).
"Hollywood Comes to San Francisco" is basically a short making-of where cast and crew talk about shooting the movie on location. City Hall and the Castro District were used, and recreating the political marches relied heavily on unpaid volunteers.
In "Marching for Equality," people who were in the real-life marches back in the 1970s and also involved in reenacting them for the movie discuss their experiences. It's obvious that the old-timers are impressed with the film's feeling of authenticity.
DVD Details
Below I have listed all the details for the Milk DVD.
Release Date: March 10, 2009
Feature Film Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for Language, Some Sexual Content and Brief Violence
Widescreen (1.85:1), Color
English Dolby Digital 5.1
French Dolby Digital 5.1
English Captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Spanish Subtitles
French Subtitles
Deleted Scenes (3 scenes, total runtime = 4 min.)
Remembering Harvey (13 min.)
Hollywood Comes to San Francisco (14 min.)
Marching for Equality (8 min.)
