The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)

I heard about this film way before the heavy Oscar-nominated film, Milk, came out this past year. Before I saw that one, I wanted to see the non-Hollywood depiction of the man who became the first openly gay politician elected to a high office. This film was in my Netflix queue when I first heard about it on my favorite podcast, Filmspotting. From time to time the two hosts have marathons, and they discussed this Oscar winner when they had a documentary marathon.

If you’ve ever seen an older documentary, they have such a different feel than the fast-cutting, hard-hitting, propaganda-filled docs of today. Don’t get me wrong, the filmmakers here had an agenda, but this ’84 film is more of a recapturing of a pivotal moment in history, with a remorseful feel rather than a bitter one. Although Milk’s name is in the title and is definitely the center focus, it didn’t feel like a bio-doc as much as a capturing of the essence and feel of the gay-rights movement in the politically charged San Francisco in the late 70’s.

Harvey Milk was very interesting and his eccentric but well thought out persona provides for a compelling look into this man, but what hit me the most was how up to this point in my life, the pivotal movements of Milk’s political goals had been unknown to me. The reactions and events that occurred due to Milk’s election into city council were not just revolutionary for the gay movement, but in a way defines the strife that was occurring in America at the time. The fact that this information was absent from my high school history books astounds me.

To see Milk’s impact on people is worthy enough to see this film, but honestly I wasn’t blown away by this documentary. It does a wonderful job of capturing a man and his impact, but you are left wanting to be challenged a bit more. It had more of a History Channel feel to it than a film, but I will continue to suggest it to people. I think it would help people see that there is more to the issue of gay rights than the current issue of same-sex marriage. Will the movie change a person’s thoughts on homosexuality… probably not. I do think that the film could at least make people think out of the box more, which is always better than nothing.

When I see Sean Penn’s portrayal, I’ll let you know if you need to see both, or one over the other, but in the meantime, I give The Times of Harvey Milk 3.5 out of 5 Twinkie defenses.