Sean Penn as America’s first self-identified gay public official, in MilkÂ
(Photo: Milk, Focus Features, LLC)
Film critic and screenwriter Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times, has penned a positive and remarkably insightful review of the film Milk. Ebert, who for many years was better known as half of Siskel & Ebert at the Movies and later Ebert & Roeper at the Movies, was left unable to speak as a result of his battle with cancer and other medical complications, but he certainly has not lost his ability to get to the heart of a film or a performance in his writing.Â
From RogerEbert.com:
A man who decided he wanted to make a difference with his life
By Roger EbertSean Penn amazes me. Not long before seeing “Milk,” I viewed his work in “Dead Man Walking” again. Few characters could be more different, few characters could seem more real. He creates a character with infinite attention to detail, and from the heart out. Here he creates a character who may seem like an odd bird to mainstream America and makes him completely identifiable. Other than the occasional employment of Harvey Milk’s genitals, what makes this character different? Some people may argue there is a gay soul but I believe we all share the same souls.
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Gus Van Sant’s film begins with Harvey Milk at 48, reflecting into his tape recorder about a personal journey that began at 40. At that watershed age, he grew unsatisfied with his life and decided he wanted to really do something. A researcher at Bache & Co. and a Goldwater Republican, Milk became involved with a hippie theater company in Greenwich Village and began to edge the closet door ajar and wave out tentatively. He was in love with Scott Smith (James Franco), they moved to San Francisco, they opened a camera shop in the shadow of the Castro Theater and saw that even America’s largest and most vocal gay community was being systematically persecuted by homophobic police.
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“Milk” tells Harvey Milk’s story as one of a transformed life, a victory for individual freedom over state persecution, and a political and social cause. There is a remarkable shot near the end, showing a candlelight march reaching as far as the eyes can see. This is actual footage. It is emotionally devastating. And it comes as the result of one man’s decisions in life.
Sean Penn never tries to show Harvey Milk as a hero, and never needs to. He shows him as an ordinary man, kind, funny, flawed, shrewd, idealistic, yearning for a better world. He shows what such an ordinary man can achieve. Milk was the right person in the right place at the right time, and he rose to the occasion. So was Rosa Parks. Sometimes, at a precise moment in history, all it takes is for one person to stand up. Or sit down.
Ebert closes his review with this note: “What Harvey Milk helped make possible: a very brief, extraordinary speech by current San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders.” Here’s that video at YouTube.
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