Milk

After a pit stop at Stephen's birthday cocktails and a coconut daiquiri or three we headed off to see 'Milk' with Sean Penn in the lead role before it vanishes from the big screen.

I must admit to not knowing anything much about Harvey Milk at all other than he was elected the first gay official in San Francisco back in the '70s who was murdered shortly afterwards. Beyond that is pure guesswork so it was interesting to see his story unfold from the night of his 40th birthday in New York to his death in San Fransisco at the age of 49. I assume the film was a reasonably accurate portrayal of events if only because I haven't seen any outrage in the media about reinventing history.

I enjoyed the film and it has some interesting messages that are just valid today but it felt clunky and laboured in places. Harvey emerges fully formed as 40 year old in New York, has a one night stand that turns into his grand love and then moves to San Francisco and becomes a gay hippy radical. We're told nothing of his previous 40 years, no old friends appear even when he becomes famous, there's no back story. The final scene repeats one of the first scenes with Harvey saying he doesn't think he'll reach 50 ... um, I've just seen that scene, there's no need to remind me. In that respect it's the tale of a man who only started living, really living and learning to be himself, when he turned 40.

The characters were also a bit odd, with most of them having everyday clothes (I'd forgotten that trousers were ever that tight) and hair and the only time you see a drag queen is in the odd crowd scene. Oh, and a Sylvester clone at Harvey's party. Is that odd or do I just have myths of San Francisco in my head, city of the Coquettes and radical politics. Where was the colour? And where were the cultural references of the time other than the hippy hair at the start of the film becoming shorter by the end of the film and the end of the '70s. I would've thought the film would have dripped with references to the times all over the place. Or maybe this says more about my prejudices and expectations.

OK, so there's some whinges for you. But I did like the film and enjoyed seeing it. I shared the sadness of seeing a man who's finally achieved his dream being cut down for no good reason. I thought Sean Penn was really good and, if that's what Harvey was really like, then he was a man of great spirit and kindness who deserves to be honoured. The film also reminds us that time moves on but things don't necessarily change.

If you haven't seen it yet, and it's still playing in your area, then go and see it. It's definitely worth a couple of hours sitting in the dark with popcorn and coke.