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February 14, 2009
Milk
I don't get what is all the hype about. It's a nicely filmed biopic but could as well have been made in documentary form. What really puzzles me is the number of articles about it claiming it's some sort of hagiography. Am I the only one to think this man was not a saint at all? On the contrary, he came across as rather nasty - from organizing riots that could have ended badly to outing people against their will, there's no end to the man's bullying. And people wonder why Dan White shot him - the killer was obviously deranged but the movie does not try to conceal the dishonest tactics Milk employed to humiliate him. But then again I'm the kind of person who believes the ends don't justify the means, no matter how much I support the cause. And I do support Milk's cause.
Sean Penn does a nice job - although the prosthetic nose gets a bit in the way - but I have this nagging feeling that he's getting some homophobic disguised praise. As in "Oh look at that butchy heterosexual man playing a slightly effeminate gay guy... he's an excellent actor." I'm also disgusted at the thought that he'll get an Oscar for it. Mostly because I can't tell if he'll get it because he is indeed an excellent actor or for the same reasons the award went to Daniel Day-Lewis for his cerebral palsy character, Dustin Hoffman for faking autism, Jack Nicholson for his obsessive compulsive stunt. They were all essentially playing the part of "The Other", "The Different". And that seems to be a challenge which strikes me as mildly offensive. Gay roles also seem to be the way to go, considering Tom Hanks in Philadelphia (oh please) and William Hurt in Kiss of the Spider Woman.
But the main thing is that this movie helps the LGBT movement as much as a biopic of MLK would help against racism. Now, what we really need is a Bill Cosby type family oriented sitcom where the parents are gay and their kids are as happy or screwed up as any other kids.
(Josh Brolin is magnificent; probably the most underrated actor around.)
Posted by claudia
Comments
Posted by nuno at March 10, 2009 10:00 PM