Saturday, March 21, 2009
GAYSTORY
Today's movie was Gus Van Sant's
Sean Penn inhabits Harvey Milk and we are the better for it at all levels. He goes way beyond impersonation. He is Harvey Milk or, if he is not, he conveys the essence of who we understood that man to be. He did get an Oscar for this.
The other supporting actors are very good. Josh Brolin, as the assassin Dan White, is particularly strong. Moral balance. A opponent who wins a battle but loses the war inside himself.
James Franco is the long time lover and partner even in separation. Pushed and pulled between the activism and his desire for a home life with Harvey. He never really leaves his side.
A biopic is very hard to make, particularly when the person(s) live in our lifetime.
Somehow the interfolding of actual footage makes this film more alive and accessible. It is very skillfully done. The opening scenes from gay bar busts in the 70s is stunning. For many gay men this is past remembering. They were just being born. It puts an underline to all that follows. I came out at this time.
I have no emotional distance from this film at all. I was not in the city but for a period of time we were all Harvey Milk's constituents. His struggle was/is our own.
I had a lot of tears. Some happy. Some very sad.
I am an optimist by nature and I keep a stiff upper lip about the shit that gay people have had to shovel. Like Milk, I believe that hope is the essential.
But buttoning the negativity down comes at some cost and this film allowed me to let a lot of that history out. In several places I was in a howl of released sadness and pain.
Van Sant has been criticized by many of us for his lack of commitment to gay rights. As if his being one of the few out film directors is not enough or does not count. With this film, he can put all that undeserved shit to rest. He has paid back mightily.
I know some people that were extras in the making of the film, reenacting the marches and crowd scenes. They claimed a great catharsis. I can feel that even from this distance. The final candlelight vigil is astounding. And it is a "small candle" to the actual 30,000 person event.
I will refrain from making connections from the film to present day gay politics. They are obvious and, in many ways, egregious.
But I am an optimist. I live the progress that has been made. I live openly. Completely. I am married. I am grateful to our pioneers. I feel like one of them. But some of us were more pioneering than others. Harvey Milk was one of those special ones and for that I am grateful to see this film which, in its way, is an artifact of that progress. It took over a decade for the film to be made. This true film. Not some fantasy. No pulled punches about Bryant or Briggs or any of the other godly enemies of human freedom.
I will give this a 5 out of Netflix5. I will see it again in the Van Sant film fest upcoming.
