Milk

I saw Milk tonight and thought it was a great movie. I'm going to make a few comments, which I typically wouldn't do as I'm a Castanza-type and have to "go in fresh." But this is a biopic, and the story is pretty well-known as far as the basics, so I'm probably not giving anything away. I just wanted to get my observations posted so that people could look for them in the movie (and before some other blogger tries to take credit).

Spoiler alert! If you're a "go in fresh" type, read no further. (Of course if you've seen Milk already, proceed with your normal amount of caution.)

There is a scene at the end where Milk is going down after being shot during an assasination (again no surprise) where they freeze on Milk in profile. He looks like Abe Lincoln's profile on the penny, sans beard. I think it's intentional. Lincoln was assasinated after an important victory for human rights as was Milk. I don't know that anyone is necessarily equating what Milk did with what Lincoln did, but there is certainly a parallel there.

I applaud the filmmaker, Gus Van Sant, on this film achievement, but wonder why in the world they didn't release this film before the election. Even Ronald Reagan came out against Prop. 6 in the movie (a very ironic, "we have enough laws to protect children" comment). Surely this movie could have helped in the fight against Prop. 8 in California this past November. One of the movie's themes was hope. Sound familiar? Let's hope we don't have to wait another 100 years after Milk to have equal rights under the law for gays the way we did after Lincoln for African-Americans.

Don't forget to look for Jerry Garcia in the candle-light march at the end. He's near the bottom of the screen on the right. (At least it looks like Jerry Garcia.)