I am not a fan of Gus Van Sant, I find his films interesting but I never really enjoyed any of them. This is an exception, and I am not one to fall for hype as my review of Dark Knight shows. This film however does everything right, Sean Penn is incredible, Josh Brolin is great, James Franco is surprisingly good, heck they are all good! Some people may find the gay scenes uncomfortable, but they are done in a sensitive way that shows enough but not too much. Each character goes through changes in the film, Harvey Milk at first was pretty much a wandering hippie. Sean Penn tells the story via his character recording the story of his life in case he dies. There is pretty much nothing wrong I could see with this film, it has already become one of my favorites of the year and I highly recommend seeing it if you have any interest in the history of the gay culture in San Francisco and the politics behind those who tried to change their world.

Overall I give it a 9 out of 10.