Harvey Milk in a San Francisco parade The Mayor of Castro Street: Gus Van Sant's upcoming movie Milk has people talking Academy Awards. But did you know that the story of Harvey Milk (left) has earned Oscar love once before? GLBT Historical Society
 

by Matthew Forke

With the growing Oscar talk about Sean Penn's performance in the upcoming movie biography Milk, it's worth noting that this extraordinary story has been told once already -- nearly a quarter-century ago -- and to great acclaim.

In 1985, The Times of Harvey Milk won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and deservedly so, for its adept assemblage of news footage, archival photos and then-current interviews chronicling one of the most chaotic periods in San Francisco history: the '70s gay rights movement.

Why it's still a classic, after the jump ...

If you're new to the story, or just fuzzy on what made this San Francisco politico so singular, NPR's Neda Ulaby has a piece on today's All Things Considered. (Suffice it to say that Harvey Milk, the first out gay man elected to major office in the United States, was no shrinking violet. His campaign — and his untimely death — made a national noise.)

So, more than two decades later, why does The Times of Harvey Milk continue to inspire gay and straight people alike? Perhaps because Milk stood up for the rights of all San Franciscans, not just the gay ones.

Or maybe because current civil-rights battles, such as the one over Proposition 8 in California, so closely mirror events that took place 30 years ago — save for the fact that Prop 6 was actually defeated.

But ultimately, it's because Rob Epstein's documentary, narrated by Harvey Fierstein, has lost none of its power to amuse, captivate, thrill, shock, sadden, and -- most important of all -- inspire reflection.

Incidentally, Milk's hilariously memorable encounter with then-President Carter's evangelical sister, Ruth Carter Stapleton, itself is worth the price of the DVD. So before Milk arrives in theaters later this month, do your homework -- no scratch that: do yourself a favor -- and add The Times of Harvey Milk to the top of your Netflix queue.

Or just go on ahead and buy it. You won't be sorry.

categories: Movies

5:47 - November 11, 2008

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