Milk

In 1984, a documentary was released entitled The Times of Harvey Milk. This film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and then at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, the city where these events took place not that long before. This film struck a nerve with audiences and reminded them of a tragedy that had taken place in America, an assassination of a politician, the first openly gay politician elected to a major office in the United States. This was also around the same time that Dan White, the man who killed Harvey Milk, was paroled and left prison. A year later, he would be dead by his own hand, but during that time, he was in danger of being killed by the gay community who looked at him as an enemy of their cause, the man who killed one of their own. 

Dustin Lance Black, a gay man who grew up on military bases amongst a heavily Christian household, feared that his sexuality would not be accepted by his devout family. Because of this, he hid who he was until late into college for fear of hell or condemnation from his family. Once he did oust himself, he began work writing and directing gay films, both short and full-length features that promoted the LGBTQ agenda. He originally visited San Francisco in the early 90s, where he began to hear about Harvey Milk, one of the only hopeful stories about gay rights in a then AIDS-devastated city’s gay community. After seeing The Times of Harvey Milk, he thought to himself that he needed to do something about this story, make a film that would bring this story to the greater population. 

As he worked on the script, he got in touch with several of Harvey Milk’s friends and co-workers from back in the day, including his former aids Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg, as well as former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos, who helped him fill in the details of the story. Black showed the written script to Jones, who in turn passed it on to his friend Gus Van Sant, who agreed to direct the feature. In the meantime, Black’s film Pedro, a film that profiled the life of AIDS activist and television personality Pedro Zamora, premiered at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival to some acclaim. However, it wasn’t until the following year that real affirmation of his talents would come to pass. With the release of Milk, Black would be nominated for and win the best original screenplay Academy Award. His emotional speech at the Oscars was one to be remembered, especially in the face of renewed criticisms lobbied towards the gay community, attacks that are once again, in 2026, steeply on the rise. 

The story that he is telling is that of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), a politician who, alongside Mayor George Moscone (Victor Garber), had been assassinated in 1978. This information is juxtaposed with archive footage of police raiding gay bars and arresting patrons during the 1950s and 60s. During this footage, we hear Harvey recording his will just a mere nine days before the assassination. The film then flashes back to NYC in 1970, where Harvey, on the brink of turning 40, meets for the first time his much younger lover, Scott Smith (James Franco). 

Needing a change of scenery, the two men move to San Francisco in hopes of finding greater acceptance for their chosen lifestyle. They open a business in the city in Eureka Valley, a working-class neighborhood which has been evolving into a predominantly gay neighborhood known as The Castro. But they are still facing opposition in the once Irish-Catholic area. This prompts Harvey to use his background as a businessman to become a gay activist, which brings him into contact with Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), a young man he becomes a mentor to. Soon, Harvey is running for public office, wishing to use the platform to push forth policies that will protect the rights of the gay community. But the stress of the campaigns, which repeatedly come up short at election time, causes Smith to eventually leave Harvey. A second relationship, this time with a sweet-natured but fragile man named Jack Lira (Diego Luna), ends with Jack’s suicide. 

Eventually, Harvey wins an election for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, making him the first openly gay man elected to a major office in the United States. Harvey meets fellow supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin), a conservative former Vietnam vet, police officer, and firefighter, and, while their initial interactions seem civil, things soon turn tense when several agendas White wants to promote are not supported by Harvey. Eventually, White feels backed into a corner and hastily decides to step down. But after a change of heart, he tries to back out of the resignation only to find out that Harvey and Mayor Moscone are against it. This leads to him taking a weapon into their offices and assassinating both men. 

The history of this tragedy is well known in San Francisco, but it is not so well known outside that area. Harvey Milk represented a tremendous leap forward in gay rights during a time when the likes of Anita Bryant and conservative Christians were getting laws that protected gay rights repealed across the nation. So much damage was being done to basic human rights in the name of God and saving our country that it was trampling on the rights of homosexuals, many of whom had a live-and-let-live attitude that was not shared by their straight neighbors. 

A large portion of this film deals with Harvey Milk and his campaigns against the repeal of these laws, the demonizing of Anita Bryant for her homophobic campaigns in Florida to change the laws, and various other legal battles just to try and secure legal rights. All of this is going on year after year as Harvey is trying to win elections that would put him in a place to do some real good for his community. 

This film doesn’t shy away from presenting homosexuality as a way of life rather than some form of deviant behavior worthy of being demonized. We hear all sorts of arguments, many of which are still being thrown out there today, such as gay teachers influencing their students into being gay, too. It’s nonsense, of course, but ignorant people use ignorant arguments to try and sway the masses. Dustin Lance Black is painting parallels between the modern world and the one in the 1970s, and the similarities are still disappointing. In the nearly twenty years since this film came out, things have only gotten worse, yet again.

Harvey is a sympathetic character, but he isn’t always a likable character.  Some of the decisions he makes late in the game seem deliberately designed to frustrate White. Others are the right decision but will also frustrate White, who seems like he is trying to sabotage Harvey but only making his own situation worse. Sean Penn is delivering an eye-opening performance that clearly shows that he has come a long way from his days as stoner Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He embodies this character thoroughly and makes us believe in him. He won the Oscar for this and, as of this writing, may end up winning another this year. 

The story of Harvey Milk is one that we should all be aware of. Gay rights, whether you believe in the lifestyle or not, should be a fundamental human right. We can fight against it all we want, and all we are doing is trying in vain to suppress a group of people that are growing stronger all the time. And that group has a voice that grows louder and more confident with every year. Harvey spoke out for his people and put himself out there, even in the face of death threats. For that, he was assassinated. This film has a strong narrative for Harvey Milk and has reached many people with its message of tolerance in the face of hatred. You don’t have to be gay to appreciate this story; I’m not. But you have to have empathy and respect. Homophobes will not understand the message here nor will they care that a gay politician was killed. That’s a harsh reality, and Black has baked that into his narrative, too. He understood it, based on his own personal background, and if we are wise, we will too. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen

Best Director: Gus Van Sant

Best Actor: Sean Penn (won)

Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin

Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black (won)

Best Costume Design: Danny Glicker

Best Film Editing: Elliot Graham

Best Original Score: Danny Elfman

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Release Date: November 26, 2008

Running Time: 128 Minutes

Rated R

Starring: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, and James Franco

Directed by: Gus Van Sant