As we all know movies are generally produced for entertainment purposes. They thrill us to quivering masses of adrenaline, tickle our funny bones until we’re hysterical with laughter or scare us so bad that we can’t sleep without a nitelite. But every so often there comes a story that is so major, so intense, so amazing that only the big screen can contain it. Milk is one of those stories.

The movie chronicles the life of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) starting from age 39 (though it isn’t very long before he hits 40). He moves to San Francisco with his boyfriend, Scott (James Franco) where they encounter some rude receptions. Harvey begins to set in motion the gears of social change by uniting the gay community of Castro Street and then heading for a career in City Hall. Despite the election losses, death threats, and relationship troubles Milk plants the seeds of revolution and bears much fruit even after his tragic death.

Harvey Milk’s incredible life story is quite uplifting and inspirational to anyone who has ever struggled with the disallowance of his or her civil rights. The story itself is pretty routine and familiar: person sees problem, person attempts to solve problem, person is successful in solving problem, person gunned down by enemies that would prefer to keep the problem intact. Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi and the list of martyrs continues on. It’s like some twisted logic that people who attempt to create positive social change must be imprisoned or killed by the slackjawed majority that want to keep things misrerable. In Milk’s case, there have been plenty of documentaries, books, and websites telling his story. So why shell out $8 to see a story you could see for free?

I saw Milk because I wanted to see history in action. I had this need to see the dramatizations of how the people interacted with one another, especially Sean Penn. Here’s a very straight man who has played some very straight roles and now he’s portraying not only a gay man but a gay rights icon. I had to see how far he was going to take it.

The other deciding factor in my ticket purchase was that this film was kinda historic. While a big screen production featuring a gay character is nothing new it is rare to have a Hollywood movie that gets it right or at least makes a strong attempt at getting it right. In most mainstream movies gay characters are supporting some girl through her wedding day preparations or working behind the scenes in a fashion show. Milk puts the gay community in the forefront. You see the straight actings and the queens, the bears and “corner boys” dealing with this intense hate campaign on their heads and then uniting to fight for their very existence.

This movie is also a history lesson for those of us who didn’t know. Those fortunate new generations who came out in a society where being gay is either no big deal anymore or maybe even glorified. Oh yeah, we still have plenty of places and organizations who believe a good gay is a dead gay but compare today’s movement with what Milk and his buddies had to deal with back in the ‘70s. Right now the big issue in the LGBT movement is gay marriage. In Milk’s time, the big issue was being able to walk down the street with your boyfriend without being beaten up by cops. I have friends who lived through that time and have told me the horror stories of being shot at, having their cars damaged, having their property defaced because they came out at the wrong time, wrong place. Milk shows some of these atrocities and through the film I was able to gain a deeper understanding of how far the LGBT movement has come and how much further we still have to go to attain full equality on this planet.

Aside from the crimes and political uprisings Milk is also a gem because it so accurately showcases gay love. I don’t just mean the romps in the sack or the little bits and pieces of nudity. The tenderness is shown. The compassion and the turmoil. The patience and the frustration. The relationship between Harvey and Scott rings out the message that politicians and activists and writers and singers and preachers have been screaming out all along; gay love is normal love and like any other love we know of. Or something like that.

There is a scene where Harvey and Scott are sitting outside their newly established photography shop. Scott is worried if they’ll make it in such a bigoted town and Harvey assures him that they’ll survive and Harvey kisses Scott. Right there. In broad daylight. And it’s a long kiss, too. A cop could’ve seized them or a passerby could’ve thrown a rock at them. But in that one scene, for me, is the moral of the story. Milk and his allies fought for the right for two men to lovingly kiss each other in the open without fear of hostility or prosecution.

I’m sorry but it’s hard not to talk about a Harvey Milk movie without me getting a little 'soapboxey'. But this is a movie review, afterall, so cinematically I was also impressed. Again, Sean Penn completely throws himself into the role of Harvey Milk and not only is it a good performance but it also showed that Penn wanted to give as much respect to the character as he would for any other movie. I’ve only seen James Franco as the brooding and troubled "Harry Osborn" in the Spider-Man blockbusters so to see him play such a laid back and affectionate character that doesn’t have a penchant for hunting spandex clad webslingers was refreshing. Like Penn, Franco also seemed to have little difficulty showing that genuine man-to-man passion that would make other actors very shy and uncomfortable. However, I would prefer not to see Mr. Franco ever don a perm again. Ogilvie is not for everyone.

A lot of buzz has been focused on Emile Hirsch playing the hooker turned activist, “Cleve”. From Speed Racer to literal boytoy. Wow, quite a creative year for Mr. Hirsch. I was also pleased to see Lucas Grabeel as one of Milk’s supporters, "Danny Nicoletta". Yes, that’s "Ryan Evans" who appears to have finally graduated from High School Musical. Though it’s not a huge role I believe this will do wonders for his career. Nothing like starring in a serious movie to let the agents know that you’re not just a Disney dude. Alison Pill stars as Milk’s tough as steel campaign manager, “Anne Kronenberg”. Anne’s presence in the film is a powerful one but also a tad comical. It seems straight or gay, men are a little taken aback by a powerful woman.

The dazzling performances are accompanied by genuine news footage showing all sorts of notable events such as the national protests against Proposition 6 and Anita Bryant's anti-gay crusades. The footage just nails the point further home that this really happened and ups the intensity of how violatile this issue was across the States. 

If you thought this review couldn’t get anymore shocking here’s a real mindblower: I have a complaint. Yes, I actually found one thing wrong with this masterpiece or one thing that disappointed me a little. Josh Brolin stars as Dan White. Both White and Milk worked as city supervisors and tried to form an alliance but it just never seemed to congeal. Dan starts to succumb to the pressures of public office and breadwinning and that stress leads down a very tragic path. After the movie I had wished the filmmakers shed more light on what specifically made White go over the edge. I got that he was uncomfortable with Milk’s lifestyle and his efforts to win more rights for LGBT citizens. I got that he was financially strapped and with a wife and baby to raise that would make even the most solid of men a tad unstable. But were there other factors? Were there rumblings from his constituency? Were the neighbors that voted for him giving him grief? Did his wife fully support him? I understand the movie was supposed to be centered on Milk and the gay movement. And while the film didn’t paint Dan White as some villainous homophobe who constantly dreamt of putting a bullet in Milk’s skull I would’ve liked to know more about White and the troubles that plagued him. Milk shows enough of Dan White's humanity to garner compassion and sympathy but I would’ve liked to see more of his soul.

I got my money’s worth seeing Milk in the theater. Sure some might argue that the movie was released as some kind of moving political billboard promoting gay marriage. It could very well be that. For me, the movie is yet another example of how great humanity can be when we unite for a cause but also how destructive we can be when we unite for a cause. We’ve seen it in The Holocaust. We’ve seen it with The Slave Trade. We’ve seen it with The Civil Rights Movement. We’re constantly striving to break down the barriers of gender, race and religion. Milk is the historwood movie that talks about the barrier of sexual orientation. I believe one day Earthlings will achieve that utopia Gene Roddenberry created in Star Trek. A period where humans will set aside their prejudices and fears and choose love over hate; peaceful coexistence rather than war. Movies like Milk remind me that such a thing is possible. It will take sweat, tears and yes, even blood. But this equality between all brothers and sisters of the atom is a reality. Alas, Harvey Milk only got a glimpse of that reality as such pioneers usually do but his legacy opens that door that much wider.

Milk is worth the $8. Any story that teaches love and tolerance is worth at least $8. http://www.filminfocus.com/focusfeatures/film/milk/