Milk

Milk
It’s true that Gus Van Sant has made more daring and provocative films than Milk, a straight (pun sort of intended) biopic about San Francisco gay rights activist Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in 1978 after spearheading a successful campaign to defeat anti-gay legislation that had already passed in states outside of California.  But, on the flip side, those other movies—which include Elephant, Last Days and Van Sant’s other 2008 release Paranoid Park—grossed about $3 between them.  With Milk, the director made the very conscious choice to make a conventional film about an unconventional subject.  And you know what?  I think that was the right move.  Working within the very familiar biopic formula, Van Sant still manages to paint a heartfelt, moving portrait of a man whose legacy matters even more in the wake of the battle over Proposition 8.  The fact that the film also happens to be accessible to a mainstream audience shouldn’t count against it.  If Milk helps only one person change their opposition to gay rights, than Van Sant will have performed an important public service.

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