Film Review: Milk

From acclaimed director Gus Van Sant comes the story of assassinated 1970s politician and gay rights activist Harvey Milk. Simply titled Milk, this film has already earned an impressive amount of award nominations, including the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director, making it difficult to expect anything other than greatness from Van Sant's latest work.

Opening with a broadcast announcing the assassination of Harvey Milk, the film then backtracks as Milk himself (Sean Penn) details the final eight years of his life, to where the events leading up to his tragic death began. We see his influence spread, as his actions in one small neighbourhood gradually gain momentum and gain national recognition and importance, as his campaign for equal rights for gays is met with the bigotry and hatred of 1970s American conservatives. This story alone is superb and the driving force behind the film, but the true drama is found a Milk recounts his personal life, and we realise just why this man was an inspiration to so many, as well as the hardships and tragedy he suffered during his eight years campaigning. It's absolutely stunning viewing, fantastically emotive and wonderfully told.

Sean Penn is nothing short of brilliant as Harvey Milk, being both quirky and deep in equal measure in a wonderfully enthusiastic performance, with Penn's personal background as a liberal political activist adding a little more credibility and believability to his portrayal of Milk's character. This is definitely a performance worthy of an Oscar nomination. The same goes for Josh Brolin, who's nomination for Best Supporting Actor is well deserved, as he captures the tormented mind of Milk's conservative peer Dan White superbly. There are even a couple of surprising performances from James Franco and Emile Hirsch, who are better known for their respective roles in the awful Spiderman 3 and Speed Racer films, but are both fantastic in their parts here.

Being a biographical account of Harvey Milk's final years, naturally the physical portrayal of the characters had to be fairly similar, and this is another region where Milk excels. As shown by a tribute reel come the end of the film. the physical characterisation by the cast is superb and nothing short of a triumph. The tribute itself is excellent, and one of the most emotional five minutes you'll have to fortune to experience in the cinema today.

It's no surprise that Milk has been nominated for Best Film at the Academy awards. Not only because of the story, which alone screams "nominate me", but it's a fantastic film, deep and emotional, and wonderfully acted to boot. This is another must-see for 2009.

5/5

Slumdog Millionaire is still better, though.

Proud member of the "I have seen Sean Penn's bare arse" club - tomdoodle16@live.co.uk