The Times of Harvey Milk

I felt it was a powerful film as I saw it as a new arrival in SF in 1984. I didn't understand its power, though, until the documentary ended and the theather kept the lights very low. As I got up and started walking to the exit, I realized that most of the audience kept their seats. Very odd, since the credits and EVERYTHING had ended. The folks were just sitting and crying.

Art has historically been used to let people rethink and understand the events of their times. (Think Shakespeare.) This film is that type of "art".

"The Times of Harvey Milk" is one of my two favorite documentaries of all time, along with "Roger & Me." Through interviews with his friends, acquaintances, and political allies, Harvey Milk is really brought to life and a wonderful and inspirational human being. It's an especially moving story for me, since I grew up in Berkeley, just across the Bay from San Francisco - but you can enjoy this movie regardless of where you're from. I've seen "The Times of Harvey Milk" about five times now, and I've cried every time. Just thinking of the opening shot of Diane Feinstein saying, "Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot - and killed" to a shocked crowd of reporters chokes me up.

The life and aftermath in death of wonderfully wry and droll Harvey Milk, San Francisco's first openly gay city official who, along with Mayor George Moscone, was killed on a November day in 1978 by disgruntled ex-colleague Dan White (who ultimately received an unusually light sentence after his trial). From Milk's sneaky campaigning tricks to the infamous 'Twinkie Defense', this documentary is solid and involving. It has a creepy ambiance that is difficult to shake after it's over, yet there's a darkly amusing undercurrent throughout (which Milk himself might've appreciated!). The film says to take these events seriously, but to take them AS events. See the humor in the chaos. This was a deserved Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature; it is quite moving, funny, despairing--never clinical or cold. *** from ****

I caught this on IFC a few weeks back. I've had the original Mark Isham score for years, and love that, but I never put any effort into finding and watching the film. It's wonderful. Even listening to Harvey Fierstein's voiceover doesn't get irritating because the subject matter is at once riveting and heartfelt, exuberant and crushing. The thing that makes this movie so effective, I think, is that it was clearly pieced together for a mixed audience. This is not a gay film, or a political film, or something only San Franciscans will understand. It brings you in and allows you to really see and hear how this man affected lives around him, including the life of the man who shot him. Fascinating. Haunting. Wonderful. Go see this film.

This is a very important film, documenting the coming-of-age of LGBT involvement in the political process. Made just a few years after the Milk/ Moscone assassinations, it expertly captures the mood of a community, pre-AIDS, poised to assume political power.

The climax of the film is the peaceful, strangely silent, candle-lit march up Market Street from the Castro, the center of San Francisco's gay male community. The gay community's response to horrific violence is shock and love. When I show this film to young (mostly heterosexual) student audiences, there is always a collective gasp as they see the throngs of silent marchers.