“Milk” - A Message of Integrity for our Times
One noteworthy reason to see “Milk” is the amazing, Oscar-winning performance delivered by bad boy Sean Penn. After you watch his naturalistic, turn as gay activist Harvey Milk, you will wonder, as Robert de Niro suggested, how you ever saw him as macho and a bad boy before. And this is what transporting method acting is all about.
The other reason to see “Milk” is the veracity and verve with which it delivers it’s core message: fight for what you believe to be true, to be fair, to be within the vibration of integrity. Even if everyone tells you that you want too much, that things will never be equal or fair in this world, still try to change things, still try to make a difference. For in the end, even if you ignite a few others to your world view, much can be changed over time.
This is what Harvey Milk achieved in his short tenure as a San Francisco city politician. Even though he was assassinated, he managed to inspire so many gay men and women around the world that it was ok to stand up for your rights, to demand an equal voice, to be treated like family. And so, as the movie points out, the gay movement carried on. And it has grown. And as the world’s consiousness expands over the next few years, even more barriers will be broken.
It is ironic that this movie comes out just when Proposition 8 has passed in California. But remember, things get worse only to get better. Proposition 8 reminds us how many fearful people still live, even in the enlightened state of California, who believe that their close-minded beliefs are more important than the fair rights of every human being.
Bigotism is on the way out. This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius. Harvey Milk was ahead of his times, but this movie is perfect for NOW, for this time of change on the planet.