When telling a story about a gay or lesbian political figure, a writer, director and producer has to work extra hard to not feed into the social stereotypes of homosexuality, as well as be sure the story is the essence of the movie, not the sexual orientation. So, when I sat down to watch the movie MILK, a biographical look at the life, accomplishments and untimely death of California politician, Harvey Milk, I was focused completely on his story.

The lead role of MILK was played by the impeccable Sean Penn, who embodied the character so well. Penn became Harvey Milk, getting his mannerisms, facial expressions and laughter down exact. The movie highlights how Harvey Milk became a hero in the 1970 San Francisco gay scene. He fought for gay rights and a chance to represent a culture and people who was often scene as unequal.

The film showed that not only was Milk a soldier for gay rights, he also stood for those who were misrepresented and mistreated. When he became the first openly gay politician in California, Milk knew that he would have more against him, than for him, but he still fought until the day he was shot by a colleague (played by Josh Brolin). The film also brought forth a 'keep trying' spirit, showing the numerous times that Milk lost elections. It was on his final try (so, he says) that he won a City Council seat.

MILK is an exceptional movie for a glimpse into not only the politics of that time, but also into how far, but not that far (example, Prop 8) the country has come as far as gay rights. The scenes throughout the film were recreated impeccably with a remake of a 70's San Francisco, as well as the marches that led to the unity in the gay community.

MILK has won the accolades and rewards of press, and film festivals worldwide, and they are all very well deserved. As the credits rolled, there was a need to find out more about the plight of Harvey Milk and the gay activists that have came after him. This was a wonderful, wonderful film.

I give Milk 5 GeoGlobes.