The Daily Background
| Thoughts on “Milk”
by Arlen Parsa
So I finally went and saw the new movie “Milk,” based on the political career of San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Harvey Milk. (In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Milk was the first openly gay American elected to high office who fought several key battles for equality before being assassinated by a conservative political rival.)
A few notes from a documentary perspective, since I’m a doc student. It was interesting seeing this film after watching the excellent documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk” which includes interviews with many of the on-screen characters in this based-on-a-true-story lightly fictionalized version. The “Milk” filmmakers actually borrowed footage from the “Times” filmmakers and integrated this original archival footage into the movie, which had the cool effect of reminding the audience that, yes, this really did happen. Interestingly, there were several scenes which had actually been captured on film and are included in the documentary, though for this big-screen version, they re-created them with Sean Penn and the rest of the cast. After the credits roll, the makers of “Milk” have a special note thanking the original doc-makers for their contributions to the film.
While I’d hesitate to say that the movie was great, I would say that it was good. And I was surprised by how relatively full the theater was, considering that opened weeks ago. One thing that I got a kick out of was when then-SF mayor George Moscone remarked to Milk at one point in the film, “You know what you’re acting like, Harvey? A modern day Boss Tweed. [pause] Or Mayor Daley.” The Chicago audience around me rippled in laughter, though I doubt that would have been a laugh line anywhere else in the country.
One thing that surprised me was how current the film was, considering the recent hoopla over California’s hideous Prop 8. One has to wonder if, while making the film, the filmmakers had any idea of how relevant it was going to be when it was released, or if sensing that it would be, they hurried up and released the film ahead of schedule?
