Review of Milk (2008) by Halfwelshman — 29 Nov 2011

Milk is worth a watch primarily for a sensational central performance from Sean Penn. He absolutely captivates the viewer by utterly inhabiting the role of Harvey Milk. Within this performance there are questions to be asked, however.

Was Milk really a hero or a villain? He was a charismatic, influential and iconic member of the homosexual community who tirelessly attempted to further gay rights and equality, but the film also portrays him as completely single-minded, willing to sacrifice anything to further his own political aims and career, and rather prone to side-lining anyone who became important in his personal life.

While the first half of the film is relatively engaging, documenting Milk's arrival in San Francisco and his early campaigns for political office, the second half becomes a little too pretentious and symbolic and tends to lose sight of characters and what they wanted to achieve.

Penn always keeps the film watchable, and it is helped by further strong performances from James Franco and Josh Brolin, but as a viewing experience, the film runs out of a little steam towards the end.

I did like the use of archived news footage, which served as a useful grounding point for the story, but there is only so far a few good (and one outstanding) performances can take you in terms of storytellign and the overall viewing experience.

I don't regret watching Milk for a moment, but I wish director Gus Van Sant had spent a little more time on developing key characters and their motivations, otherwise they become charicatures - Harvey Milk comes across as an unfeeling radical, and Dan White a paranoidly image-obsessed conservative.