Harvey Milk

Harvey Bernard Milk (Played by Sean Penn) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in New York where he acknowledged his homosexuality as an adolescent, but chose to pursue sexual relationships with secrecy and discretion well into his adult years. His experience in the counterculture of the 1960s caused him to shed many of his conservative views about individual freedom and the expression of sexuality.

The Film
After moving to San Francisco, the middle-aged New Yorker, Harvey Milk, became a Gay Rights activist and city politician. On his third attempt, he was elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors in 1977, making him the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the USA. The following year, both he and the city's mayor, George Moscone, were shot to death by former city supervisor, Dan White, who blamed his former colleagues for denying White's attempt to rescind his resignation from the board.

Mr. Milk had been the subject of several books and the Academy Award-winning documentary feature, The Times of Harvey Milk (1984); but Milk (2008) is the first fictional feature to explore private aspects of the man's personal life and career.

Milk was filmed on location in San Francisco. Many of Mr Milk's real-life surviving friends and former associates participated in the making of this film, several appearing on camera.

My Response
I found it truly amazing how I was able to go this entire class semester and find little to no information at all about Harvey Milk and his amazing story. It actually bothered me at the fact that my professor was the one to bring this to my attention. There were hours of searching done to complete this blog, and it still baffles me at the fact that through all those different searches, the story of Harvey Milk remained hidden. Of course after I discovered his story, information began arising left and right. The story in itself is absolutely mind blowing. What an amazing man. The movie is supposed to be a hit among the liberal population, and although with high hopes of captivating all audiences, it is not likely that the conservative portion of our nation will appreciate this story.

I am so glad that I was given this opportunity and I am really looking forward to seeing the movie. Even if you are not one who supports gay rights, or anything of that sort, this movie has potential, critics of all types have been giving high ratings. Check out the trailer!