Make no mistake about it, “Milk” is a political statement. It is largely based on an actual incident that took place in San Francisco in 1978. Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) is a homosexual activist, who, along with his boyfriend from Chicago, heads for the City By The Bay. They settle in the Castro District, a sort of homosexual ghetto, open a small business and do all right for while.Eventually, prejudicial elements of the area try to reclaim the district from the homosexual community. Milk is determined to fight back. He becomes an angry, disruptive leader – then realizes that politics could be a more effective battleground. He gets himself elected to a city office, gets a new lover and carries on programs to strengthen and seek political approval for homosexual causes.
Milk develops a basic strategy: whenever a homosexual issue is voted down, the homosexual activist community takes to the streets in protest. The strategy is still used today, as is clear from the Proposition 8 marches after a majority of California voters passed a constitutional law keeping marriage between one man and one woman.
The true, tragic end – a fellow city politician, Dan White (Josh Brolin) claims Milk has reneged on promises and ruined his career, and he shoots and kills Milk along with the Mayor of San Francisco.
Written by Dustin Lance Black
Produced by Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Cast:
Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco
