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That was an excellent one.

Strong and Moving!

best movie i've ever seen.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

We need more movies showing the lgbt community in a positive light. Milk was a bit slow at times, but overall a pretty good watch. I wish there would have been an lgbt actor playing Milk. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to know how the lgbt community was treated, what rights they had and what they had to go through for us to get to this point in our history.

When it comes to biopics, the thing that stands out for me is the feeling I'm entering the lives of another person's life and hoping that I cab get a bigger picture of that person and get a better understanding of their triumphs and failures in hope that if I meet a person similar to that character I would feel more confident if ever I should approach them. The 2008 Oscar winning film "Milk" directed by Gus Van Sant follows the the remaining eight eventful years of Harvey Milk's life as he makes the transition from a complete unknown to a being one the first openly gay political official as part of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. As I mentioned in the title, "Milk" isn't entirely on coming out as gay during a time when homosexuality wasn't tolerated but more of chasing your dreams to reach your fullest potential regardless of what obstacles stand in your way.Back in 2008, "Milk" was given a plethora of accolades in the film industry most noteworthy being the sublime performance by Sean Penn as the titular character. With the make-up, costumes and molding of his character traits, Penn wasn't just playing Harvey Milk, he was Harvey Milk. His character was portrayed as a calmly spoken, idealistic novice politician who overcame incredible odds like standing up to the government giants while tackling the prejudices he faced in his personal life. In keeping the balance between his work and home, it was his job to cater to the emotional needs of his partner Scott Smith (James Franco) as he discover the world has become more public and that he made it his decision to pun for a political office as time and ambition was drawing near. After many years of Franco starring in a stream of action films and comedy it was great to see him in a more dramatic film and he pulled it off flawlessly.Aside from Penn and Franco's performances, the supporting characters are also quite effective in not only their acting, but by their physical characteristics as well. Josh Brolin was effective as Milk's fellow colleague and rival Dan White and the chilling tale of his character is quite the thing that'll make your skin crawl. Emile Hirsch as Harvey's associates Cleve Jones was effective, though his screen time was limited.After the events that happened here between 1970-1978, it has been maybe only recently that North America has found more acceptance to the LGBT community and has made great strides in helping these individuals be happy with the skin they own and not have to live in fear and despair. Harvey Milk was a man who set out on a journey to overcome the odds to help his people prosper and to stand proud and open up and to say there are millions out there like him and they're not afraid of who they are and no one else should be. By coming out and admitting one's orientation was the pivotal step for one to crush the walls of homophobia and that everyone must co-exist. If more people were to accept those and not judge, the world would be a better place.I liked how Van Sant utilized archive footage to the film which adds authenticity to the narrative giving this film a dose of realism to the script. In this way he's doing it as a contribution to the cause as opposed to just arbitrarily pasting it into the scenes. The approach here has a more caring side to it contrary to being preachy and just unmercifully rubbing it in our faces.Change can be good or bad depending on one's point of view, and the goal that Harvey Milk embarked on was that he wasn't asking for a lot, but just wanted the world to be a little more accepting and a lot less negative and his dreams was not just to make homosexual people's life a little more caring for the world around them but to have a strong leader in the political spectrum to stand up for them. Sure the theme is on homosexual acceptance, but in this big world we live in we face struggles in every aspect of life making "Milk" a more universally themed movie.

Up front, let me say that this is a good movie with excellent acting, a powerful message, and overall it's a credit to the art of filmmaking. Other reviewers have covered that better than I can; I just want to mention something that no one else seems to have brought up.Director Gus Van Sant chose to focus on the personal life of the man Harvey Milk rather than the cause he championed. This wouldn't be a problem except that Van Sant gives us a highly airbrushed, family-friendly, almost Disney version of Harvey Milk, making me wonder: if this film isn't about the gay rights movement, and if it isn't about the real Harvey Milk, then what is it about?If you dare to hear me out for 2 paragraphs, you might want to don your iconoclast flak jacket because I may shatter the lily white image of Milk that the director would have you believe. But I'm doing this to make a point that a good film would celebrate the ideals of an individual rather than the individual (or a fabcation of a perfect saint for us to idolize). But such is Hollywood, I guess.The man real man Harvey Milk wasn't always the boyscout which director Gus Van Sant paints him to be. In reality, it may have been more accurate to say that Harvey was *interested in dating* boyscouts (boo hiss, I couldn't resist 1 tasteless joke, but the truth remains: at least one of Harvey's lovers, Jack McKinley, was 16 years old when Harvey, 33, ran away with him in 1963). Another sore spot, which the film exploits for a cheap emotional twist, is the suicide of a certain minor character. If you want to know the truth behind this subplot, google "Harvey Milk and the Boy from Minnesota" for an eye opening exposé which might make you wish they had omitted the whole episode from the film, rather than twist it into a tear jerker.I understand that Harvey Milk is synonymous with gay rights in the 1970s, and certainly he deserves much praise for his amazing accomplishments. I just resent the way Gus Van Sant fabricated a glossy, flawless hero. I would've much preferred a fallible hero who does the right thing, much like the excellent film "Amadeus" accurately portrays Mozart as a stumbling drunk but a musical genius nonetheless. Give the audience credit for differentiating the human from the achievement.Apologies if I ruined the illusion of Harvey Milk's perfect life, but isn't it better to honor the things he did? If anything, that's the legacy Harvey Milk wanted: for us to carry on the message rather than idolizing the messenger.

One thing can for sure be said about Milk (2008), and that is that Sean Penn turns in a masterful, beyond accurate performance. He portrays gay rights advocate Harvey Milk wonderfully. And James Franco is great here too, I absolutely loved him and his character in this film. The chemistry between Penn and Franco is believable and I for one really rooted for their relationship. Josh Brolin plays murderer Dan White very accurately, and I commend him on a great performance. Dustin Lance Black wrote a great award winning script that works so well for the film. And the love/romantic scenes between Milk and his lovers are well shot and tastefully done. The movie shows the ups and downs of milk's life and how he fought tooth and nail for LGBT rights in San Francisco, California, and ultimately across the United States. I do personally feel like the movie could have been just a little stronger overall, but I still feel like this was a great representation of Harvey Milk's remarkable life. Milk (2008) receives a 7/10.