FILM REVIEW: MILK

“You can’t live on hope alone, but without hope, life is not worth living.” Harvey Milk

Thirty years after Harvey Milk was gunned down in office, his story has made it to the big screen, and at a time when the main cause driving Milk’s political career once again finds itself publicly embattled. Directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn, Milk provides a sensitive, discerning portrait of Harvey Milk’s life and work.

To those unfamiliar with the history, Harvey Milk (Penn) was the first openly gay man elected to public office in the United States. A half-closeted investment banker in Manhattan, Milk moved in the early 1970’s to San Francisco, where he opened a camera shop. Moved to action by the city’s hostility toward its gay community, Milk decided to run for public office. After three failed campaigns, he was elected City Supervisor in 1977.

Though Harvey Milk is often seen as a larger-than-life figure, the film does not overly romanticize his story or turn it into a fable. Van Sant’s use of actual local news archive footage interspersed with shots of Milk recording his memoirs alone give the movie a distinctly journalistic feel. But it is the performances of Milk’s phenomenal cast that truly give the story its depth and add more dimension than can be gathered from the facts of history. Penn’s performance is stunning, capturing Milk’s famous charisma and sweetness without trying to make him look like a deity - or a boy scout.

The most significant achievement of Milk’s 11-month political career was his successful opposition to Proposition 6, a statewide measure that would have banned gays from teaching in public schools. The battle over Proposition 6 is one of the key events of the film and echoes the recent fight surrounding California’s Proposition 8, which barred same-sex couples from legal marriage.

Harvey Milk urged homosexuals to come out of the closet en masse, confident that showing the straight majority how many gay people they knew personally would go far in undermining their instinctive bigotry. “They’ll vote for us two-to-one if they know one of us,” Milk says in the film.

In the midst of battle, Milk is portrayed as a kindhearted leader. I was particularly moved by those scenes showing Milk’s quiet, reassuring conversations with frightened teenagers. It was in these moments that the film peaked in its humanity, stepping down from the political podium to give us a glimpse of the relief that arises from one-on-one acceptance. It is this acceptance that is the root of the gay rights movement.

I struggled to find my voice as I sat down to write this review. I knew that, given theRubicon’s readership, it couldn’t be just a film review; it called for some words of perspective on the church’s fractured relationship with homosexuality and homosexuals. It’s a topic on which Christians seem endlessly divided, both among ourselves and with the world outside the church. Though the Bible contains condemnations of homosexuality, many believers cite historical context as a reason not to lend those passages much weight. Many other believers argue that as the infallible Word of God, the Bible provides explicit commands for the Christian’s stance on social issues.

Were I a more informed biblical scholar, perhaps I could take refuge in the certainty of one side or the other. But I’m not.

So here is what I think: Harvey Milk is an inspirational figure because he offered hope to a fearful population. As Christians, we have words of hope to offer as well. Words from a God who loves his people - all of his people. Words that as his followers, we are obligated to do likewise. This is an amazing thing.

However, we can’t share these words of hope if we are unable to get within earshot of our listeners. And we can’t get close if we plaster “KEEP OUT” on our doors. I don’t think that we’re justified in using our faith as an excuse to exclude this part of the world from our fellowship. As Christians, we’re never excused from reaching out in love to our fellow man, whatever we perceive his flaws to be. Our faith may be powerful - powerful enough to move mountains, even - but if we don’t have love, we’re nothing (I Corinthians 13:2).

With that in mind, perhaps we should start our own movement - one to make the church a place of solace rather than judgment, one where ears and hearts are open rather than blocked shut by a fear of what we refuse to understand.

Reviewer: Lesley Carter is a copywriter and editor living in Atlanta, GA, USA. Growing up with Salvation Army officer parents laid the foundation for what would become a life spent searching for the true meaning of service and community - and how both factor into God’s purpose for her life. Lesley serves the Rubicon as a copy editor and our movie reviewer.

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