Penn shines; ‘Milk’ just shimmers

It's not just that we see Sean Penn as Milk dictating into a tape recorder and saying, "This is only to be played in the event of my death by assassination" -- a bit of obvious foreshadowing that would be unpalatably trite if it weren't, incredibly, true. We also see news footage from just after the double murder of Milk and Mayor George Moscone.

So, "Milk" becomes one of those movies in which you know what is going to happen all along. It trusts the audience will find what comes before it fascinating enough to accept a conclusion that is already known.

Is it fascinating enough? That depends on your tolerance for political speeches and filmmaking that is strident and didactic. For a truly fascinating look at the same material, watch the 1984 Oscar-winning documentary "The Times of Harvey Milk" -- the documentary format in that case has a much greater emotional kick than the dramatized version here.

Penn is terrific as the likable, fey Milk. At a time when gays could be fired for their sexual orientation and the police were not above cracking a few homosexual heads, Milk stumbled eagerly into political activism. He spoke out for gay rights, and people listened to him. So he decided to run for supervisor.

He lost, so he ran again. And again. These campaigns are depicted in rather too much detail and are punctuated with far too many political speeches. The speeches continue even after he wins the seat in 1977.

Times have changed in the 30-plus years since Milk was elected, and some laws have caught up with the points he was making then, that gays should be free from discrimination and should not be fired for what they do in the bedroom. Many people's attitudes have changed, too, so writer Dustin Lance Black and director Gus Van Sant are largely preaching to the choir.

James Franco and Diego Luna co-star as two of Milk's lovers, and we don't for an instant care about either one of them. Emile Hirsch also appears as some guy who meets Milk and then four years later meets him again and claims that a month has passed (an editing flaw, rather than a flaw of character).

As impressive as Penn is in the role, the best performance -- and most interesting character -- is by Josh Brolin, who plays Supervisor Dan White. The conservative White is deeply conflicted (Milk suspects he might be a self-denying gay), and his initial efforts to reach out to Milk become mutual antipathy. Frankly, White might make a more interesting subject of a movie someday.

Van Sant considerably helps his cause by inserting vintage film of the time, from views of Castro Street to clips of Anita Bryant pleading for civil rights to be denied to gays. The footage helps both to set the scene in a particular time and place, and to give it a sense of immediacy by making it seem like a newscast.

Some of this footage is used at the end, as it must be, with the candlelight parade in Milk and Moscone's memory. Come to think of it, that same amazing footage was handled better in "The Times of Harvey Milk."