Milk

As I said earlier, Phil and I got this movie about a week ago. It is the story (true) of Harvey Milk, a San Francisco gay man who grew tired of the poor treatment of homosexuals and minorities and ran for and eventually got elected to the S.F. city government. He was very charismatic and was able to align unlikely groups (like a labor or Teamsters union) to back him because he was able to channel the votes and money of the local homosexuals to support union gripes (Coors boycot, an example). However, this was in 1978, when Anita Bryant was gaining strength in her crusade against anyone unlike her (particularly homosexuals) and while Harvey Milk was able to make amazing gains in his brief time in office, he had enemies, in particular another city council person who eventually assassinated Milk and the SF mayor in 1978. This triggered a huge candlelight march on city hall, where the murders occurred (appeared to be pre-meditated) and subsequently instead of extinguishing the flame of excitement and cohesion that Harvey Milk was able to bring about, his death brought greater drive to his ideals. A true story. Sean Penn won a well-deserved Oscar for his portrayal of Milk. Be prepared for some tasteful love scenes (ala Cold Mountain), no real violence (the shooting scene is horrifying for what is represents but is not excessive), and I don't recall much if any profanity. Two thumbs up.