Movies chronicle first gay elected politician; a child of
revolution
Milk starring Sean Penn, James Franco and Josh Brolin
Persepolis voiced by Catherine Deneuve and Chiara
Mastroianni
Right around March and April, there is a lull at the box office.
Oscar season is over so most of the Indie fare has moved out of the
theaters. And studios are holding anything that has potential to be
a summer blockbuster for Memorial Day weekend or later.
While some movie fans might be disappointed with the yearly
movie doldrums, I see it as an opportunity to catch up on all the
stuff I missed the first time around or to re-watch old favorites.
Recently I took the time to watch two movies based on true stories
that never made it to the Gilroy theater, though they each had a
brief showing in Hollister.
Movies chronicle first gay elected politician; a child of revolution
Milk starring Sean Penn, James Franco and Josh Brolin
Persepolis voiced by Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni
Right around March and April, there is a lull at the box office. Oscar season is over so most of the Indie fare has moved out of the theaters. And studios are holding anything that has potential to be a summer blockbuster for Memorial Day weekend or later.
While some movie fans might be disappointed with the yearly movie doldrums, I see it as an opportunity to catch up on all the stuff I missed the first time around or to re-watch old favorites. Recently I took the time to watch two movies based on true stories that never made it to the Gilroy theater, though they each had a brief showing in Hollister.
Milk
In this biographical film directed by Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn plays Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to be elected to a higher office. Penn took home a best actor Oscar for his role, and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black took home an Oscar for best original screenplay.
In the movie Milk really begins living his life after his 40th birthday, when he moves to San Francisco with boyfriend Scott Smith (James Franco) and finally comes out of the closet. Milk and Smith open a camera shop on Castro Street and become active in organizing the gay community in San Francisco. The movie follows Milk’s unsuccessful bids for San Francisco city supervisor and state assembly, before he eventually wins a seat in 1977 as a city supervisor.
Milk’s ascent into community activism, and eventually into politics, is at a time when the nation is considering gay rights for the first time. Many of the scenes and arguments expressed by those against gay rights and those for them are not so different from many of those heard before the November election in regards to gay marriage.
At the detriment of his long-time relationship with Smith, Milk feels he has to run for political office and continue to fight for gay rights against the “Save the Children” crusade. Led by Anita Bryant, those in favor of the movement had already gotten laws passed in several states that legalized job discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Milk eventually worked with other San Francisco city officials to pass a San Francisco law that prohibited discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation, and he helped defeat a statewide proposition in 1978 that would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools, and anyone who supported gay rights.
Penn plays the role of Milk so it is clear that he is passionate about his cause, but also makes it clear that Milk liked to be in the limelight. His legacy can be seen in the number of people he worked with who continued to be activists even after Milk was assassinated by fellow supervisor Dan White, who also gunned down Mayor George Moscone.
Van Sant makes the movie with a mix of historical-looking footage of Castro Street and the protests. In addition, the filmmakers made a lot of effort to make the actors in the key roles look and behave as much like their real-life counterparts as possible. This is evident in the ending sequence that shows photos of the people portrayed in the film. The film pays homage to Milk and the other activists, but it also highlights the similarities between their fight and the one for gay marriage.
Persepolis
Though anyone watching “Milk” knows that it ends in an assassination, the movie does have a feel-good edge to it. “Persepolis,” however, is mostly a downer that may lead viewers wondering what it all meant at the end.
The animated film is based on a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi and is about her life growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is in French with English subtitles, and it is in black and white. Vincent Paronnaud developed the book into a screenplay, and the two directed it together. The look of the movie stays very close to Satrapi’s novel, with many of the scenes looking like they are straight out of the book.
The movie, however, seems to lack something of a conclusion, though it did offer some insight into what life was like in Iran during the 1970s.
Marjane is the daughter of two idealistic parents who want the Shah to fall. They let her wear sneakers and offer her plenty of freedom. But when the Shah finally does fall in 1979, it puts an end to their way of life as Islamic fundamentalists take over. Their rights are limited – no Western music, no alcohol and women must wear traditional burkhas. To save Marjane from the brunt of the revolution, they send her to Vienna to study, but there she finds herself struggling to fit in. Unfortunately, when she returns home to Iran, the country has changed so much she doesn’t really fit in there anymore, either.
