Movie Review: Milk
Usually I’m not too interested in films about historic persons like politicians and other leader figures as I think they often tend to glorify their subjects and therefore fail to show them as real people.
Luckily, Gus van Sant’s “Milk” does not fall into this category and that is largely due to Sean Penn, who delivers one of the finest performances of his entire career. Most people know that Mister Penn is a very fine actor who often chooses to portray broken, torn-apart characters to great effect. With his strong features and his energetic body language, hinting at a violence and uncontrollable anger that is buried just a little bit underneath the skin, he has a profound ability to evoke fear in an audience. In “Milk” he finally gets the chance to prove that his talent as an actor is not that limited. He can slip into a totally different role – he’s never been that far away from his usual type-casting that shows him in roles that are somehow always related to his off-screen image as an angry, hot-blooded man ( – an image that is probably one of those myths created by Madonna).
In the past he has already proven that he can play more subdued roles – an example being “I am Sam”, though that was generally not well-received. One of his best performances so far had been his role in “The Assassination of Richard Nixon”, a film that was largely ignored or panned by the critics and the audience – but it must have been one of the performances that lead to his casting as Harvey Milk. In “The Assasination…” he played a mild-mannered but increasingly desperate man who faces constant humiliation from his former wife and his boss. Penn was very moving in this film and now in “Milk” there’s no more despair, no more terror driving his character and it’s refreshing to finally see this actor in the role of someone who is not hunted by inner demons.
It is also a revelation. Sean Penn is a real actor, not one from the Brangelina-school of acting on the basis of three different facial expressions and so-called “star power”.
Penn’s Harvey Milk is a likeable man in his forties who speaks in a soft manner which is a reflection of his attitude towards life. He appears to be exceptionally calm and peaceful, even though his life had not been free of conflict as he had stayed in the closet about his sexuality until he was 40 years old. A man who lost three of his partners to suicide, as he notes in one scene of the film. His life opens up when he meets the young Scott Smith (played by James Franco) who encourages him to come out and to fight for a better life. Scott Smith was indeed the driving force that made the phenomenon of the first openly gay elected man in a position of political power possible. Ironically or just sadly, their relationship suffered badly from Harvey’s political ambitions that had been fuelled by Harvey’s love for Scott, his wish to be able to live with Scott in a better world. Along the path of becoming more and more successful in his political endeavours Harvey begins to neglect his personal life and Scott leaves – a fact that does not even seem to bother Harvey very much.
James Franco is another particularly strong actor in this film. He portraits Scott Smith with great warmth, still slightly boyish in the beginning, mature and at peace with the loss of the love of his life towards the ending of the film. The character of Scott Smith remains important throughout the film, as he tries to protect a member of Harvey’s team from the leader’s increasingly demanding attitude. Harvey Milk wants every gay man and woman in the country to come out – that’s his vision and goal as he thinks that might convince the heterosexual majority that the gay people are everywhere and therefore can’t be that dangerous. But Harvey no longer cares about the personal consequences when he demands from his young supporter Dick Pabich (played by Joseph Cross) that he shall make a phone call to his dad instantly, announcing to his family that he is gay. His point of view is that “When they don’t support you the way you are, then you’re better off without them.” But that’s not a rule that can be applied to everybody. Some people need their families more than others and not everyone is as strong and independent as the leader of the movement himself. That is something that leaders of political movements tend to forget: Not everyone fighting for the same cause is exactly like them.
In that little scene with Dick Pabich Van Sant’s film shows one of the dangers and traps of political activism: the cause remains good, but at some point everything has to be secondary to that cause and that’s the point when activism can turn into fanatism – individuals are no longer important, every member of the movement is expected to be willing to devote every aspect of his being to the cause. No one here falls into that trap, but the danger is noticeable and Harvey Milk himself is very close to crossing the line. And that’s another point at which a certain Character trait of Harvey Milk, as seen by the director; is displayed: He shows a certain insensitivity towards other people – he uses them, he remains warm and giving, but you can’t help thinking that underneath the surface he does not care that much about individual people anymore. And he is also a little careless, – a fact that plays a certain part in the circumstances that lead to his killing.
He lets two people into his life that are very obviously ticking time bombs:
The first of them being his new lover Jack Lira ( played by Diego Luna), a troubled soul so obviously in need of professional help that it seems foolish that Milk tries to establish a normal family life. Every act of kindness towards Jack makes Jack’s decline more inevitable. Harvey simply can not see that and perhaps he does not really care that much. From the moment Harvey opens the door for Jack it is clear that there is going to be trouble. For Harvey it’s just a one night stand at first while Jack instantly ties himself to Harvey, exclaiming that he loves him, without even knowing his name yet – from that moment on the disaster is inevitable. Jack with his excessive behaviour and his inability to behave according to a protocol becomes a danger to Harvey’s political career. In the end Jack commits suicide in an attempt to punish Harvey for being late.
Even more dangerous is Harvey’s interaction with Dan White (played by Josh Brolin), his political rival. In fact White is not even Harvey’s rival from the beginning. Harvey himself turns White into a rival with his insensitive and careless behaviour towards the man who will later kill Harvey with extreme brutality. In this case Harvey even notices that White is a troubled soul. Milk suspects that White is secretly a homosexual not accepting his true orientation. Whether that’s true or not, the obvious fact is that White is so full of suppressed anger, fear and despair that sometimes he can hardly speak without losing his temper completely. When they first meet it even looks like there could be a friendship between these two men, White even invites Milk to the Christening of his baby son and clearly seeks personal contact with him, even though his wife is obviously not amused.
By this time Harvey Milk is a professional politician who acts like a professional politician, which means he makes promises to colleagues that he does not keep. Carelessly he promises that he will support White’s initiative to prevent the opening of a mental institution in White’ district. Of course this is inhumane, which Milk realises and therefore he breaks his promise – an act that turns Dan White into his worst enemy. White’s motivations for turning against Harvey Milk are deeply personal. Secretly he may have regarded Milk as a hero and his disappointment about Milk not supporting him in political issues turns into a form of hatred that otherwise could only be associated with disappointed affection.
It is both fascinating and heart-breaking to watch Josh Brolin in the role of Dan White. We know that he will kill Harvey in the end, but Brolin manages to portray White as a character we can feel deeply sorry for. His inner struggle is so overwhelming- he’s the type of person to whom you would like to say something like “ Run away and start a new life somewhere” not without sympathy.
Josh Brolin is a wonderful actor – that has been evident in his performances in “No Country for Old Men” and “W”, but here he is deeply touching.
Regarding the film’s message I would say that it is very timely, considering the fact that nowadays in some states of the USA the situation for gay people is worse than it was back then when Milk and his followers fought for more rights. There’s been a general backlash against civil liberties,as we all know. So, the film is certainly encouraging and it is not only of interest for people who want to support the gay community– but in that sense it is not unique. There have been many motivating films in the past, movies that tell of workers fighting for better working conditions (Norma Rae), of veterans fighting for a bit of respect (Born on the 4th of July), of strong individuals successfully fighting for a better world (Erin Brokovich) – all of these films were motivating and “Milk” is certainly a part of this tradition of movie-making. But of course these films did not truly change anything. They give us false hope perhaps, but on the other hand false hope is probably better than no hope at all.
What makes the film “Milk” truly memorable, in my opinion, is the wonderful acting by some of the finest actor we have in the global money machine called Hollywood. Therefore I highly recommend it. -AS, March 2009
