Milk

Was really looking forward to this for two reasons: 1) Sean Penn and 2) It got Sean Penn an Oscar for Best Actor.

However, I found this difficult to watch because I was watching the beginning of it during dinner, because my sibling insisted that we “get the movie over with as quickly as possible” so he can use the TV to play his stupid crappy MMO, and the beginning of this movie has really openly gay scenes. My mom sitting next to me, who is absolutely AGAINST even just the /notion/ of homosexuality, was going on about how this is just disgusting and obscene and why would people do that. It really made my fists clench because I totally disagree with her and sympathize with and do not oppose people who are homosexual. I just found it so hard to pay attention to the movie because I was pissed off at her remarks and because the opening is just kind of hard to watch at both dinner and around people who are against gay people.

And also WHILE I watched the rest of the movie away from the dinner table, my mom kept trying to avoid the living room where I was watching it and giving glares at me and/or the TV if she happened to walk by. So terrible, and it made me really uncomfortable. I wish I watched this in the theatres or at a friend’s house…

As for the movie itself, it felt really, really long. The beginning progressed really fast with Milk’s first few attempts, and then steadied and focused on the most important period of his life. The pacing confused me at first, and I thought the movie would end soon, but it didn’t.

I found the setting quite interesting, and all the characters were really convincing, but I didn’t really agree with Milk’s way of thinking where he told all gay people to come out and tell everyone about their preference. I understand that in the long run, it is best for your sanity and mental wellbeing to not coop such a big issue inside because it’s really painful and difficult to live with, but seriously, just telling people that doing something like that is okay is kind of disregarding their ties with their closest peers, such as co-workers and family members. Being convinced of doing something like that in a spur of passion or admiration of Milk could really lead to important family ties being severed, and also the loss of jobs and eventually the ability to sustain oneself. It is indeed important to hold out to your beliefs, but PERSONALLY, I think it is also important to consider the consequences of such an action, so I don’t at all agree that he should so easily inspire people to go through with this action in an attempt to speak out for his cause.

I also didn’t support at all the anti-gay parties either, and I think Prop 6, where they propose that homosexual teachers should be fired, is absolute bullshit. Gay teachers RECRUITING young students for their own sake? Come on! The gay community is not at all trying to “turn everyone gay”, they just want to be recognized as a group who should have the same rights as heterosexual, and who should not be persecuted for an orientation they can’t help!

Those were the main problems, and I also had a few problems with other decisions he made, as well as some other strong opinions I already had prior to the movie, but I won’t go into that.

Uh, back to the movie. The ending was terrible and I didn’t expect that at all, and to think that this is based on actual events makes it even more horrifying. I loved the bits of opera, though. Opera is so awesome. I can’t believe Milk went to watch Tosca! Just great. I also really like Cleve and the actor who played him - he was really good at being in a consistent, likeable character, which I was surprised about taking a liking to.

All in all, this is a really controversial, up-front, direct representation of one of the most notable achievers of gay rights, and Sean Penn really does a good job getting in character as usual, with extremely fluid and expressive body language and natural mannerisms (as usual!), although I was unable to really appreciate him as I found it difficult to agree with his character, although I fully /understand/ his motivations and reasoning. 82/100.