Despite its lack of style and the textbook-esque approach to conventional documentary filmmaking, this is quite rightly one of the finest of its kind—a galvanising and sensitive work on the LGBTQ legacy of Harvey Milk and his tragic assassination.
Review #3,021
Dir. Rob Epstein
1984 | USA | Documentary, History | 90min | 1.33:1 | English
Not rated – likely to be R21 for homosexual theme
Cast: –
Plot: Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.
Awards: Won Best Documentary Feature (Oscars); Won Special Jury Prize – Documentary (Sundance)
Source: UCLA Film & Television Archive
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Harvey Milk; LGBTQ Movement in the ’70s; Politics & Society
Narrative Style: Straightforward
Pace: Normal
Audience Type: Slightly Mainstream
Viewed: MUBI
Spoilers: No
As far as documentaries go, The Times of Harvey Milk doesn’t break new ground in terms of form, structure or treatment.
Yet, despite its lack of style and the textbook-esque approach to conventional documentary filmmaking, it is quite rightly one of the finest of its kind, about a subject that still haunts and rings loud and true today.
Harvey Milk wasn’t just the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in the U.S., he became the poster boy for the LGBTQ cause that would change how societies think about not just queer discrimination, but the treatment of any disenfranchised human being.
Rob Epstein’s powerful and galvanising work, detailing with straightforward earnestness the hard-earned victories of Milk amid seemingly insurmountable challenges and widespread hate, is matched ably by the sensitive handling of his subject’s tragic death at the hands of Dan White, a fellow city supervisor who also assassinated Mayor George Moscone.
“Knowing that I could be assassinated at any moment or any time, I feel it’s important that some people know my thoughts.”
When seen together with Gus Van Sant’s essential biopic, Milk (2008), starring Sean Penn as the titular figure in an Oscar-winning performance (he ‘spoiled’ Mickey Rourke’s comeback party with The Wrestler), The Times of Harvey Milk achieves greater clarity and purpose as a vivid document of those times.
The ‘70s in San Francisco seemed like a vibe, and in 16mm, the film takes on a tactile aesthetic that is not only nostalgic but also feels intimately like a project mounted with a sense of grassroots mobility.
In fact, Milk’s grassroots activism was the stuff of legend, as Epstein’s interviews with numerous people who had been impacted by him would attest.
Well-paced and insightful in how it captures the divisiveness of ‘70s American politics, The Times of Harvey Milk tells us what it means to believe in and fight for a cause, valiantly and without remorse.
Grade: A
Trailer:
Music:
Eternality Tan 