Brief Screening Report: Milk

            Milk is a wonderful film depicting one of America’s most challenging and monumental moments of human rights. Harvey milk, portrayed perfectly by Sean Penn, is such a wonderfully amazing American hero and this film captured his wit and personality perfectly. Sean Penn does great justice to the wonderful politician of the people, and makes it clear that he appreciates the wonderful character Milk presented to everybody he met. This movie has a stellar cast that all blend perfectly together to really depict the sense of urgency, courage and perseverance these openly gay activists exhibited to a world that hated them. I do not know how they had the courage to face police brutality, constant public harassment and respected individuals calling them sick and un-human. Cleve Jones, Emile Hirsch, exhibits this courage by his transformation from a small town homosexual looking for a wealthy man in California to one of Harvey Milk’s trusted friends and spectacular political activists. There are so many wonderfully complex aspects to this film and each scene after another was equally enchanting to the very crazy life story of Harvey Milk.

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            One of the saddest aspects of the film was the break up of Milk and Scott Smith, James Franco. While watching, you could tell that the extremely hectic lifestyle of the newly branded Harvey Milk as a politician was just too much for Smith. However, with one of the last and monumental scenes that coincided with Dan White’s perspective as he was about to assassinate both the Mayor and Harvey Milk. In the scene, we see Harvey Milk and Scott Smith talking on the phone late night both saddened that they faded apart and each hoped to possibly see each other again. This powerful closing scene makes the ending even more tragic, and keeps you wondering what could have been if the mentally unsecure and very dry Dan White did not do what he did. The death of Harvey Milk did not kill the continuing of human rights for everyone, if anything it ignited a massive fire to succeed at all costs. However, it’s always hard to think of what could have been if great people like Milk, Martin Luther King, John Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln weren’t tragically brought down. This movie definitely allows for an excess of emotions to flow through and hopefully provides everyone with adequate knowledge of such a wonderful campaign for civil liberties.