Milk

Directed by Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, Elephant). Starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Diego Luna. Written by Dustin Lance Black. Nominated for eight Oscars, including for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay.

Told the true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the US.

It was mind boggling that Prop 8 got through. Heck, it's mind boggling why homosexuals still have to fight for their rights until now. It never stops to amaze me how difficult it is for people to understand that we are all humans. How difficult it is for them to not judge other people by how they love each other. Beats me. Harvey Milk, portrayed so delicately by Sean Penn, was not trying to be a hero. He was just a man with a lot of hope. He wasn't fighting for himself, he was not fighting for a community, he was fighting for men's rights as human beings. The film told his story from the beginning of his efforts to run for office from 1970. He failed three times and finally got elected as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. You are able to see how selfless this guy was. How affectionate, how humane. I think everyone agrees that Sean Penn is one of the most gifted actors, ever. It was so easy to go over the top with this role, so easy to be artificial. Yet Penn, as always, was able to play it just right. The team of Gus Van Sant and Sean Penn delivers a biopic that doesn't feel orchestrated, it has that indie soul, despite the A-list stars and the non-indie scale of the film. Josh Brolin is a fine actor, proven once again. With the limited screen time that he was given, he was able to make us somehow see Dan White. Emile Hirsch was scene stealing, I'm more assured that Hirsch and Penn make a great team. It felt "WTF?!" yet fun to see the very hot male model Boyd Holbrook got a role, a role with a name in the credits. Uh-huh. And James Franco. My lord, what a fine actor. I would love to be his agent because I seriously cannot understand his movie choices. James Franco is one of the finest young actors that Hollywood got, and look at his movies. Look at what he has done in the last few years. This man is wasting his own talents, I have no idea why. Thank god he did Milk. I just wish he starts appreciating his own talents and start improving his choices, hopefully in the near future. Come Oscar night, Milk might not snatch the Best Picture award (the statue is already reserved for Slumdog Millionaire, I presume) but this film shall be remembered because Harvey Milk should be remembered. What he stood for should be remembered. I hope the film will help people to come out and live an honest life. See this film, feel Harvey Milk's compassion and hope, and be inspired. If the ending scene doesn't touch your heart, I don't know what does.

9 / 10.

"You've got to give them hope."

EDIT: Apparently this film didn't get to be screened in Indonesia because it didn't get pass the censoring process. Shame on them, really. There is nothing graphic in this movie, yet they refused to pass it. Because it involves homosexuals instead of heterosexuals? It just shows how insecure and how undeveloped a country Indonesia is.
People, go see this film. Look for it. There's a reason why Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black got those Oscars.