His life changed history. His courage changed lives. (Milk (DVD))

Member Name: DixieChick101

Product:	Milk (DVD)
Date:	28/05/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic story of a real person

Disadvantages: First half seems to go nowhere.

Before the Oscar season, I myself had watched quite a few of the films that were in line to win some sort of award at the Oscars. I had not even heard of the film called Milk, before Sean Penn won his Oscar, so it was quite a surprise to me that he beat out to the likes of Brad Pitt whose performance in Curious Case was just magical.

I watched this film very sceptically, out of all of the films that I rented from Blockbusters, I was not too sure about this film, mainly because I didn't know too much about the storyline or how well received the film was other than the Oscar for Penn.

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The Plot
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When forty year old Harvey Milk realises that he has done nothing in his life that he's proud of, him and his boyfriend Scott decide to move to San Francisco. He then becomes a gay activist in the city's Castro district and then he decides that being an activist is not enough, to get the voice he wants, he needs to become a politician. It takes years, however Harvey Milk became the first openly gay man to be elected to political office.

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The Cast
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Sean Penn - Harvey Milk
James Franco - Scott (Yes, it's Harry from Spiderman)
Emile Hirsch- Cleve Jones
Josh Brolin- Dan White

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My Opinion
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The first half of the film did nothing for me, I was actually prepared to take the film back, half watched, as I didn't think too much of the film itself. It didn't seem to go anywhere quickly and I found the storyline to be quite drab, however I gave it another go and really enjoyed the rest of the film, it even made up for the start which was quite slow paced. It's really amazing to see what Harvey Milk did for gay rights in America, maybe gays and lesbians wouldn't be where they are in the world today without this guy and all that he stood for.

I thought the role of Harvey Milk was fantastically played by Sean Penn, I have not seen Penn in too many films, I think other than Mystic River the only other thing I enjoyed watching him in was a few episodes of Friends. I thought he was very good within this film, Oscar worthy? I'm not sure. I think there were people he was up against that may have deserved that Oscar a little bit more, because their performances were one of a kind, but I think a lot of people may have been able to perform the same as Penn playing Milk.

Josh Brolin, I have only seen in a few films again and again his role was fantastic in the film, you do begin to hate him and that is what they want you to feel.

The film itself is fantastic, I don't know much about Harvey Milk as I wasn't around in that time, and I'm sure if I was, I would not have known too much, as I know the united kingdom was almost shielded from this type of story. I think Milk was fantastic and what he did, and what he sacrificed for the rest of the gays in the world, was tremendous, he really gave his life to what he believed in and never faltered.

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Should You Buy The Film?
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As it's just been released on DVD, you are looking at paying the odds to buy this DVD, for now just rent it, I myself would probably not watch the film again, as it is one of those films you just watch once and that's it.

It's rated 15 and rightly so, I think my sister (younger than 15) would have felt quite uncomfortable throughout the film.

A really good film and really well directed, it is one to watch.

(C) Kirsty 2009

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