8/10
Tragic, haunting, even darkly comic documentary...
18 July 2004
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, and it is quite moving, funny, despairing--never clinical or cold. *** from ****
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