The Justice

If you have any knowledge of the late 1970s, or if you have seen the first five minutes of Milk, then you know that the aforementioned biopic ends with the murder of Harvey Milk. However, despite knowing that Milk's death was forthcoming, there were still audible gasps from the audience during the scene in which the gay rights activist's life was taken, not so much because the image was particularly gruesome, but rather because it was so shocking that someone would murder the kind, vibrant man we had become attached to in two short hours.

During this time, Milk relates the final eight years of Harvey Milk's life, beginning with his initial migration to California in search of a "new scene" and ending with a march of 30,000 people in honor of his passing. One of the film's greatest strengths lies in its ability to impart unto the audience the sentiments of those Milk "recruited" for his cause and who later publicly mourned him; over the course of the movie, viewerse begin to fear for Milk, seeing every strange visitor-drunken man and innocent child alike-as a threat to the enigmatic leader. The movie also possesses an incredible talent for depicting the varying levels of discrimination that existed during Milk's lifetime, for 'Milk' demonstrates that prejudice comes not only in the blatant form of hate crimes and death threats, but also in more subtle fashions, such as in the casual wiping of one's hand after shaking that of a supposed "sexual deviant."

Milk, by way of its amazing cast, also gives viewers a sense of the weariness and righteous anger felt by those persecuted during the 1970s; it is difficult not to sympathize with Milk and his compatriots after watching the countless authentic clips included in Milk that feature public figures labeling homosexuals-those like Sean Penn's incredibly benevolent, emotionally-battered Milk and James Franco's compassionate Scott Smith-as "pedophiles" who do not deserve the lives they have built for themselves.

Indeed, after watching Emile Hirsch's excellent portrayal of Cleve Jones, the physical manifestation of pissed-off youth, I have to wonder if, had Milk been released prior to Nov. 4, Proposition 8 still would have prevailed; there's something about this film that makes you angry about not being in streets protesting right at that second.

But, then again, maybe the film wouldn't have changed a thing; for, until I saw Milk and the intensity with which past generations rallied, I didn't believe in the quiet nature of Generation Y and our tendency to-in the words of blogger of Rebecca Thorman-"think we're making a difference by adding the 'Causes' application to Facebook." When did we begin restricting our anger to the Internet?

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