'Milk' review

Josh Brolin and Sean Penn (Credit: Danny Nicoletta/Focus)

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Director Gus Van Sant ("Good Will Hunting") chronicles the last eight years in the life of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), America's first openly gay elected official. The film begins in New York in 1970 and tracks Milk's many attempts at winning public office in San Francisco, leading to his eventual victory, activism and assassination in 1978. Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, James Franco and Diego Luna co-star.

The buzz: Considering the recent historic presidential election and the current debate over California's Proposition 8, "Milk" couldn't really be more timely. (Actually, the fact that this 30-year-old story is so timely, and the issue still so hotly contested, is sort of depressing.) More exciting is the film's level of anticipation, which includes the strong likelihood of Penn scoring a Best Actor nod.

The verdict: For an Oscar-baiting movie, "Milk" doesn't beg for attention, but it certainly earns it. Penn's terrific at establishing Milk's fearless commitment to gay rights as a simple issue of equality, at the cost of personal relationships and his own safety. The film does suffer from the frequent biopic condition of skipping from one thing and one person to the next, causing Van Sant to minimize the sting of the prejudice, hate and death threats that made Milk's activism so dangerous and so important. The story, though, is the spark in a fire that's still raging, and a significant part of recent history that, in a culture of fear and violence and hypocrisy-fueled agendas, feels more recent everyday.

Did you know? In these troubled economic times, perhaps people can find inspiration in what Milk's boyfriend Scott (Franco) buys with his last unemployment check: an ounce of pot. OK, maybe not.

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