I wasn’t hugely looking forward to Milk, for a number of reasons – not particularly interested in the subject matter, not a fan of political dramas in general nor biopics, and Sean Penn alternately bores me and skeeves me out. But I was game to give it the old college try, and it definitely is a well-made film that would carry a great deal of power if the subject matter interested me more.
For the backstory, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man elected to political power in California – that of city supervisor for the Castro district of San Francisco in 1977. The film covers the period from around 1970 when he and his partner Scott moved to San Francisco (and were instrumental in making the Castro an LGBT haven), through his political career and his eventual assassination in 1978.
