Milk

OMG!! Milk was freaken awesome!

As always, Gus Van Sants kept us at an emotional distance, making it harder to connect to the majority of his characters, except the one that gives the audience access to the entire story. Back in Elephant, the first film I saw of his, Alex is our emotional access point, the person who the audience can really connect to. This puts more pressure on the lead, to act thought the fourth wall, so Sean Penn really had to work for it, and he did, and it showed in the film and the recognition he received. Also, Sean Penn smiled, a lot, truly emulating the late Harvey Milk, with gestures and crooked smiles and general beings.

I missed the first five mintues (Caroline ran late), so I don't know if they said in the begining that Dan White killed him, which might have made the film slightly less potent than just knowing that Milk would die, then the little shock if you didn't previously google before walking into their theater. Whats funny is in Middle School I wiki'ed Dan White in connection with the Twinkie Defense that got him off for the assassination of two government officials, I just didn't remember that it was Harvey Milk.

The death scene was beautifully shot, where Milk is in his office, Dan walks in, makes him go to his knees, and you see Dan standing behind him, gun drawn, then the shot and blood stain Milk, the camera panning as he falls forward, then out the window to the opera house, a poster of a large women sobbing in the way everyone must have felt like doing after news reached.

The use of news real in combination with film worked very well in this film, Anita the Hun Briant shown in brilliant Technicolor as the beautiful devil she is. The whole idea of protecting the children, shown for the idiocy it truly was. This also tied to the idea that in California, now, if your gay you can't adopt children already here, but if your heterosexual, unemployed and living with your parents and on well-fare, you can have a whole litter.

The Speeches given at the Oscars were brilliant. Dustin Lance Black quote was brilliant
"I think he'd want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by their government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, God, for giving us Harvey Milk."

I loved Sean Penn's speech, why "“you commie, homo-loving sons of guns.” ask, because quite simply it kicked but!

"For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, and, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone. And there are these last two things. I’m very, very proud to live in a country that’s willing to elect an elegant man President."