Reflections on Milk (2)

On Monday I posted my review of the Sean Penn movie, Milk. It is the story from the 1970s of the first openly gay man elected to a significant position in the United States. As I said then it is a movie worth seeing. It is also a movie that I think needs to be seen since beyond the movie itself, I found myself with all kinds of reactions and thoughts. I promised to share those as well.

• First I was really shocked by my nostalgia for a long-gone life. The picture of 60s/70s life and approach to life was clearly presented. While it was specifically gay activism in this movie the style was the same as that for other movements of the 60s/70s. Nostalgia may seem like a strange reaction to that, but in many ways it was just another way of saying it made me very aware of the passage of time. I thought of people I knew in those bygone days who haven't made it to today.

One was my friend D. He had arrived in New York City about a month or so after the Stonewall Riots which started the Gay Pride movement. As a young Gay man he quickly was caught up in the movement and its sexuality. He once described it to me as riding this great big, wonderful wave. He thought he had jumped off just before it crashed. Sadly he hadn't He died almost 20 years ago now of AIDS, about a year after his partner.

• Which was the second shock and pain of the movie. For many of us who knew or loved or even were acquainted with people who died in the 80s and early 90s of AIDS it was a painful jolt to those much more innocent days. Even at the end of the movie they mention that Scott, Harvey Milk's lover played by James Franco, died of AIDS. Looking back from 30 years later the joy and excitement and hope of Harvey Milk and his days were darkened by a shadow that was growing in 1978 and no one knew it. AIDS was already making its way through the unseen viral world.

I kept coming back to that thought as the movie progressed. I was enjoying the development of the story, the transformation of Milk and the wide variety of people he managed to "recruit." I remembered the anger at people like Anita Bryant and her anti-gay crusade. Then in the recesses of memory I recognized the era. I did a quick calculation and realized that this was before AIDS. I shuddered as I remembered the early panic of a disease with no name that no one had ever heard of before killing previously healthy young men who had only one thing in common- they were gay.

The "what if..." and "if only..." thoughts of looking back were painful. So deeply painful that I could not sleep well for a couple of days after the movie. The loss, the grief- personal and societal- has not been measured- and will never be. The stone in the pit of my stomach is still there as I write this 10 days later. I have a hunch it has been there for most of the past 20-30 years and it was only with the catharsis of this powerful movie reminder that I realized how deep it is. It may be a curse of aging- while at the same time a monument to those we have left behind.

• Which brought me to a surprising third awareness. After the movie my wife and I both commented that the same thought had occurred to each of us at the same time. She said it this way:

  I'm sorry, but after all that I realize that I have to disagree with Barack Obama. I know what he's trying to do, but he's wrong about Rick Warren offering the invocation.

  It was the hatred submersed under the guise of morals and religion that helped kill Harvey Milk. It is right to attempt to be President to all the people. It is not right to give voice to hatred and prejudice. We wouldn't do it for a racist or anti-Semite who can give- what to them is as clear an expression of logic and support for their untenable position. This does not take away from Warren's accomplishments in other areas and his "Purpose-Driven" style. But the position on gay rights is very dangerous. There are other ways for Obama to be the President of all the people. To put Warren in the Inaugural spotlight is not one of them.
  

There is, I am sure, much much more. It will be dribbling and bubbling out over time. Any movie that can evoke that much in two very short hours is quite a movie. Again I say- go see it. Allow it to seep into your consciousness. Then go and change your world.