Friday, December 5, 2008

yup i'm pretty sure no one reads this thing...
















but i love writing reviews for some reason! and i'm bored. on a friday. how pathetic. oh well, most everyone is either still in class or on their computer. 

Ok so I saw MILK while I was in town last week, and let me tell you, IT WAS AMAZING. It's the new biopic by Gus Van Sant and it stars Sean Penn as Harvey Milk- the first gay person to be ever elected into a political office. 
Milk chronicles Harvey Milk's life from 1970 up to 1978, the year he was assassinated. Along with the very likable Milk, we meet a cast of colorful and strong characters including Cleve Jones (an amazing performance by Emile Hirsch)- a young gay guy who helps Harvey campaign for city supervisor, Scott (another great performance played by James Franco)- Milk's longtime lover and friend, and Dan White (YET ANOTHER awesome performance by Josh Brolin)- Harvey's fellow supervisor who ends up murdering Milk as well as San Francisco mayor George Moscone. The story chronicles the rise of Harvey's career as humble camera shop owner in the Castro district of San Francisco up to his position as a city supervisor of San Francisco. 
While this movie is a drama, not all of its 128 minutes tries to make you cry; in fact, Milk's character is quite light hearted and provides laughter throughout the film. That laughter and giddy aura created by Milk and portrayed onscreen by Sean Penn is what truly relates the audience to Milk and his struggles; Milk is like any one of us, he is funny and friendly, yet he is serious about what he believes in. 
In the end, I kid you not, I started bawling. And let me tell you, I am not one to let it all go in a movie. I think I may be one of the only girls not to cry in A Walk to Remember and The Notebook, and the only other movie I have ever bawled in was The Green Mile. The reason why I started crying wasn't due to the assassination scene, but rather it was the moving speech stated at the end that appeals to all human beings. Gay rights aren't just about gay people, they are about human rights- the right of equality to all people. 
This movie along with the passing of prop 8 really puts things in perspective, and I really believe people will begin to examine their feelings of gay marriage and gay rights in general after seeing this movie. Before seeing Milk I believed that it was unfortunate that gay people couldn't get married but I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. After watching this movie I began to realize that it's a big deal because we, as a country, took away the rights of our fellow citizens. This is the same country where "All men are created equal" is written in the Declaration of Independence. Wow. It really makes me angry and sad to know that some people cannot deal with the fact that a man loves another man or that a woman loves another woman. Isn't love, love?