Milk poster & wallpaper

Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin

His life changed history. His courage changed lives.

In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into public o...( read more  read more... )ffice in America. His victory was not just a victory for gay rights; he forged coalitions across the political spectrum. From senior citizens to union workers, Harvey Milk changed the very nature of what it means to be a fighter for human rights and became, before his untimely death in 1978, a hero for all Americans. Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk under the direction of Gus Van Sant in Milk, filmed on location in San Francisco from an original screenplay by Dustin Lance Black, and produced by Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen.

Milk charts the last eight years of Harvey Milk's life. While living in New York City, he turns 40. Looking for more purpose, Milk and his lover Scott Smith (James Franco) relocate to San Francisco, where they found a small business, Castro Camera, in the heart of a working-class neighborhood. With his beloved Castro neighborhood and beautiful city empowering him, Milk surprises Scott and himself by becoming an outspoken agent for change.

With vitalizing support from Scott and from new friends like young activist Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), Milk plunges headfirst into the choppy waters of politics. Bolstering his public profile with humor, Milk's actions speak even louder than his gift-of-gab words.

When Milk is elected supervisor for the newly zoned District 5, he tries to coordinate his efforts with those of another newly elected supervisor, Dan White (Josh Brolin). But as White and Milk's political agendas increasingly diverge, their personal destinies tragically converge.

Milk's platform was and is one of hope – a hero's legacy that resonates in the here and now.

Flixster Users

89% liked it

39,788 ratings

Critics

93% liked it

214 critics

R, 2 hrs. 8 min.

Directed by: Gus Van Sant

Release Date: November 26, 2008

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DVD Release Date: March 10, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (12,174)

  • clooneyfan
    October 31, 2009
    clooneyfan
    I must be old fashioned but I thought Milk was awfully promiscious.
  • Chiefilms
    October 30, 2009
    Chiefilms
    This was a good film biopic about gay rights activist/politician Harvey Milk. Gus Van Sant was the perfect director for the film not just because he's gay but also because the mood and style of the picture suits him well. The acting was great and the script was great. An hones...( read more)t film that doesn't try to hide anything for the audience's pleasure or comfort, which is why it is a strong film. Sean Penn getting an Oscar for this may have been a little over the top, but it's an Oscar caliber performance. It's an important film and story in many ways. Someone could say "this film is so gay" and that would be a compliment for Milk. It's real gay.
  • franktowers
    October 25, 2009
    franktowers
    it was good
  • 76Majikat
    October 14, 2009
    76Majikat
    An extremely worthy tale to tell of the true story of Harvey Milk, Gay and Human rights activist turned politician during the 70?s in San Fransisco.

    Yet another great performance from Penn and very Gus Van Sant to bring a controversial story to light.

    This is a great awaren...( read more)ess story and a legacy that will live on. It also acts as a metaphor for any type of minority, whatever that minority might be.
  • AgentLexi2132
    October 7, 2009
    AgentLexi2132
    ''Without hope, life's not worth living.''

    The story of Harvey Milk, and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official.

    Sean Penn: Harvey Milk

    How miraculous it is how crucial timing...( read more) is. Released only a few weeks after the passage of Proposition 8 - a measure that took away the rights of same-sex couples to marry in California - Gus Van Sant's Oscar-nominated effort Milk turns back the clock to another point in time, with an all too similar struggle in American civil rights history and to the iconic man who helped to get the ball rolling.

    Harvey Milk was the San Francisco supervisor and gay-rights pioneer who, along with Mayor George Moscone, was shot in city hall in November 1978. The perpetrator, Dan White, a disgruntled fellow board member who had recently resigned his seat, was found guilty of manslaughter, sent to prison for a mere five years, then released in 1984, only to take his own life two years later from guilt I suppose.

    Dustin Lance Black's Oscar-winning screenplay traces Milk's meteoric rise from an obscure, still largely closeted Republican businessman in the early 1970s to the de facto leader of the gay-rights movement that began to take shape during that period. He became the first openly gay man in the state to be elected to public office and, in 1978, he was instrumental in helping to defeat Proposition 6, which, if passed, would have made it illegal for homosexuals (and even straight supporters of homosexuals!) to teach in California public schools (was this really only thirty years ago?). Throughout all this, Milk managed to develop a large, highly charged grass roots organization, the purpose of which was not merely to combat bigotry wherever it reared its ugly head but to win over the hearts and minds of the people in their community and the nation as a whole.

    ''My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you!''

    There has been some arguments and complaints leveled against the movie that it is too reverential in its treatment of Milk, that it paints him too much as a saint and not enough as an ordinary human being being with the requisite number of weaknesses and flaws to make him truly viable as a character. Even if one were to accept that charge, it still doesn't take into consideration the very special quality that Sean Penn himself brings to the role. With obviously heightened mannerisms that he is careful never to allow to slide over into caricature or camp, Penn makes Milk both charismatically larger-than-life and recognizably human at one and the same time. Whether he's in front of a crowd rallying the troops with his megaphone or enjoying a tender moment with his longtime boyfriend, Scott Smith, Penn allows us see the many facets of this obviously complex man.

    In a movie chock full of outstanding supporting performances, James Franco as Smith, Josh Brolin as Dan White, and Emile Hirsch as Cleve Jones, a rootless young man inspired by Milk to become a lifelong activist, are the obvious standouts.

    As a director, Van Sant keeps things moving at an almost whirlwind pace, beautifully balancing the "big" scenes of rallies and marches with the more intimate moments depicting Milk's relationships with those around him. At times Van Sant brings an almost documentary-style immediacy to the film, seamlessly blending actual footage from that era (much of it of Anita Bryant and her anti-gay crusade) with convincingly staged re-enactments of events at that time. Obviously wanting to end on a positive note, the movie mentions but does not dramatize the White Night Riots which took place in the city following the assassinations, instead focusing on the enormous candlelight march that wended its way through the shocked and devastated city. Thus, the ending, like the movie itself, is a necessary and deeply moving reminder of how the courage of one individual to stand up for what he knows is right can inspire others to follow in his footsteps - and change the world at the same time.

    ''All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words.''
  • theloneowl
    November 6, 2009
    theloneowl
    È uno di quei film che ti lasciano quel magone piacevole per diversi giorni dopo averlo visto.
    E Sean Penn.. Sean Penn è immenso, come sempre.
  • SeetheChild
    November 4, 2009
    SeetheChild
    I'm not a homo and don't get the mentality, biopics are also my least favourite genre rehashing mostly uninteresting lives (to me) with numerous cliches available. I can't distinguish between Ray and Walk the Line besides the fact there's a black guy in one and a white guy in the...( read more) another. Gus Van Sant is an annoying filmmaker but keeps his shit in check and mostly delivers on making Milk interesting enough to warrant the film, Penn whilst a dickface liberal is pretty damn convincing and real in the portrayal of the man. Solid stuff, worth a view but couldn't sit through it again.
  • aloiselle55
    November 3, 2009
    aloiselle55
    wow loved this movie
    Love Sean Penn
  • 5oclockcoffee
    November 3, 2009
    5oclockcoffee
    Don´t expect anything close to "Elephant", "Last Days" and "Paranoid Park". "Milk" is definitely a mainstream, but purposely. Gus Van Sant hasn´t got caught by the big movie industry, but chose an easy and usual format, wich includes known actors, to make Milk´s story acessible t...( read more)o everyone.
    Very good directed and with brilliant perfomances, specially by Sea Penn, "Milk" is a touching and inspiring political teaching.



  • xweirdox
    November 2, 2009
    xweirdox
    Struggle for faggot cause.

View All Milk Reviews

Critic Reviews

January 23, 2009
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

Add Penn's uncannily three-dimensional performance, his best yet, and Milk is a masterclass on how a political biopic can become rich, humane, encompassing cinema. full review

December 15, 2008
Mike McGranaghan, The Aisle Seat

Milk combines grade-A acting, an astute screenplay, and innovative, passionate direction into a package that entertains even as it drives home some important ideas. full review

December 12, 2008
Katherine Monk, CBC Infoculture

Penn seems to disappear behind the upright shoulders and coquettish grin of his alter ego. He not only launches into each close-up screen kiss with co-star James Franco with palpable zeal, he makes Mi... full review

December 11, 2008
Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com

After eight long years of cinematically picking lint out of his bellybutton, Van Sant returns from the void of his scarf collection with this noble bio-pic, a film awash with colorful characters and a... full review

December 5, 2008
Michael Sragow, The Baltimore Sun

It's not a great movie, but it is an enlivening and unusual one: an effervescent political film that also packs a knockout punch. full review

December 4, 2008
Kimberly Jones, Austin Chronicle

A fairly standard biopic -- if a very fine one, indeed -- but never the transcendent work one would have hoped from the filmmaker or his subject. full review

December 3, 2008
Armond White, The New York Press

A bizarre manipulation of the gay political impulse. full review

December 1, 2008
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

Penn's performance is a marvelous act of empathy in a movie that, for all its surprisingly conventional style, measures up to its stirring subject. full review

November 28, 2008
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

Milk is an agitprop fantasy about the selflessness of sainthood. If anybody but Penn was playing the saint, we'd probably feel as if we were being sold a bill of goods. Instead, he just about pulls it... full review

November 28, 2008
Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com

A film that doesn't quite escape the clichés of the biopic genre but still finds its own beats, thanks in large part to the piercing performances. full review

View more Milk reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • kriegerderholle
    April 2, 2009
    kriegerderholle
    Hahaha, men 5/5, women 1.5/5
  • lizzylexa0602
    March 12, 2009
    lizzylexa0602
    Yeah why did the women rate it so low? I'm a heterosexual woman and I thought it was better than 1 ½ stars.
  • bigmanonthetube
    February 24, 2009
    bigmanonthetube
    Excellent film, damn near a perfect portrait. There was not one second in the film that I felt was out of context. The dated footage was seamlessly transitioned into the footage that was shot. Sean, yu did it again and left my mouth on the floor lol. Penn continues to surprise me.
  • Megggyy
    February 20, 2009
    Megggyy
    Wait, how is the female average rating so low?
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