Milk

The fight for the equal treatment for minorities - be it racial or sexual minorities - has always been an uphill struggle. The conservative and religious frameworks of our society are hard to widen. So individuals who are willing to step onto this road are always visionaries and humanitarian heroes as they are willing to sacrifice their personal life for the sake of educating people about the harm of stereotypes and the need for individual freedom.

The fight for the equal treatment of homosexual in the US gained momentum during the second half of the 70's, when Harvey Milk was first openly gay candidate who was elected for a public post in the US.

Harvey Milk

This kind of struggle serves as an ideal basis for a movie. The first attempt to show the political struggle of Harvey Milks was made in the 1984, when Rob Epstein's documentary "The Times of Harvey Milk" portrayed the struggle of its protagonist. The documentary garnered critical acclaim and also received an Oscar in the documentary category.

In 2008 a more open approach in the form a fictional movie directed by Gus Van Sant and starred by Sean Penn in role of Harvey Milk was released. This adaptation won two Oscars - one went to Sean Penn for his solid performance and the second one went to Dustin Lance Black, who wrote the screenplay. I have to agree that Penn deserved the award as his performance was balanced and was one of the strongest points of the movie. The script, that should be the foundation of a movie onto which other parts can be placed on, was a bit disappointing - supporting characters were not fully fleshed out and came off as caricatures. Lacking was also the execution and build up of the main conflict that should have made the film unique - differences between individuals that lead to the tragic end of Harvey Milks' life.

Sean Penn in "Milk"

The music by Danny Elfman, best known for composing the musical theme for "The Simpsons" and "Batman", was lacking the emotional impact that his works usually have.

So in the end there were some strong aspects - like Sean Penn's performance and some cinematography effects. But the film as a whole did not manage to create the high level of synergy between the different layers and that is the main fact that stops it becoming a true classic.

Just before his assassination Harvey Milk gave a speech that became a legend. A year ago nice looking graphical animation was added and now you can all witness the power of a well made speech.