History: Film / Milk

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'''''Milk''''' is a 2008 film, that was directed by Gus Van Sant and stars Creator/SeanPenn, Emile Hirsch and Josh Brolin.

Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this film traces Harvey Milk's career from his 40th birthday to his death. He leaves the closet and New York, opens a camera shop that becomes the salon for UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco's growing gay community, and organizes gays' purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his campaign manager. Victory finally comes on the same day Dan White wins in the city's conservative district. The rest of the film sketches Milk's relationship with White and the 1978 fight against a statewide initiative to ban gays and their supporters from public school jobs.

Milk was nominated for countless awards, and won 2 [[AcademyAward Oscars]] for original screenplay and lead actor, Penn's second win. It was also nominated for picture, director, and supporting actor (Brolin).

Not to be confused with the drink, nor with the film ''Film/MilkMoney''.

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!!This film provides examples of:
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Maybe a smidge, but the photomontage at the end shows that they got the likenesses really close. And the performances are excellent across the board, so it's easy to forgive.
* BettyAndVeronica: With Harvey as Archie, Scott as Betty, and Jack as Veronica.
* {{Biopic}}
* BrokenBird: Jack. Possibly Dan as well.
* BuryYourGays: Justified in that this is a true story and Harvey really was assassinated by Dan White, but as far as we know it was not because Harvey was gay.
** Also averted, since almost every character with a speaking part in the film is gay, and are alive at the end.
** Justifiedly played straight with [[spoiler: Jack]].
* ButNotTooGay: Completely subverted at the beginning of the film.
* CastFullOfGay: Justified due to the setting.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "He will be stabbed and have your genitals, cock balls and prick cut off."
* DrivenToSuicide: Apparently an appalling number of Harvey's lovers [[spoiler: including Jack.]] In the what-happened-after epilogue, we learn that [[spoiler: White killed himself some years after being released from jail.]]
* DragQueen: None of the major characters, but they can be seen in the background of all the major protests.
* FiveTokenBand: Along with Harvey Milk, an openly gay man, the Board of Supervisors that he becomes a part of includes Gordon Lau, a Chinese-American, and Carol Ruth Silver, a single mother.
* ForegoneConclusion: Harvey Milk is killed. Actually, the film [[InMediasRes starts with the announcement of his]] assassination.
* TheFundamentalist: State Legislator John Briggs and Anita Bryant.
* GayAesop: Possibly a TropeCodifier.
* {{Gayborhood}}: Justified due to the setting, since it was Harvey's base of political support.
* HomoeroticSubtext: Buckets of it. Rather expected due to the subject matter.
* ImportantHaircut: Harvey gets one of these, along with a shave, in order to get more votes.
* NobodyOver50IsGay: Averted. The film provides a fairly wide tapestry of homosexual men. And if Milk had lived he'd be 80 in 2010.
** Also, he's already in his forties during the events of the film and often jokes about his age. He died at age 48.
* MarriedToTheJob: What causes a rift between Harvey and Scott.
* MayDecemberRomance: Harvey is in his early 40s, while at least one of his boyfriends appears to be in his early-to-mid 20s (who even starts their relationship by asserting he doesn't date guys over 40).
* MononymousBiopicTitle
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Well, more like ''suicide'' of the hypotenuse in this case. [[spoiler:Jack's suicide, to be specific.]]
* OscarBait
* QueerRomance: The film has two significant homosexual love stories.
* TheSeventies
* ShownTheirWork: The filmmakers used historical photographs of the actual events as a guide for certain shots and shot the scenes in the original locations, even going so far as to recreate Harvey Milk's camera shop at its original address. Some of the actors, most notably Sean Penn, even wore their characters' actual clothes during filming.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Judging by the scenes that weren't archive footage, there was exactly one (1) woman fighting for her rights alongside Milk. Even the crowd scenes had more dragqueens than women.
* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: Harvey talks Paul, a disabled gay kid, out of killing himself.
* ThemeNaming: By accident: Milk and White.
* TroubledButCute: Harvey's preferred love interests.
* WaistcoatOfStyle: Harvey
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: At the end, pictures of the actual people depicted in the film, and brief summaries of their lives after the assassination are shown.

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