The Times of Harvey Milk

Dick and I watched "The Times of Harvey Milk" this weekend. I had heard that it is a very good documentary film - it won Oscar for Best Documentary in 1984.

The movie was outstanding. I'm so glad that we watched it.

But, here's what got me...

I've lived in the Castro for nearly 10 years now, so I've learned a lot about the the history and culture of our neighborhood. I think I know a fair amount of about Harvey Milk, and of his achievements, and his untimely death.

However, I'm just a little too young to remember the details of any of these things when they actually happened. I was only 8 years old, and my family had only just moved to the Bay Area in 1978 - the year that Harvey Milk (and SF Mayor George Moscone) were assassinated. I don't remember it at all.

What struck me about watching the documentary was that even through I knew most of the historical facts, I had not seen any of the actual media footage from that time period. That's what got me. I had seen photos of the candlelight memorial march, but seeing the footage of it nearly brought me to tears. I had heard of the riots after Dan White's sentencing, but I had never seen the footage of the police cars set on fire, or the riots outside City Hall.

It was very moving.

I found that I went through the gamut of emotions while watching this film: I was intrigued and inspired by watching the footage of Harvey Milk, during his election campaign, and seeing how much he accomplished in his very short time in office. I was brought to tears watching the footage following his assassination, and I was ANGRY at the verdict and light sentencing to Dan White.

As I said, I knew all of the facts and chain of events before watching the film, but it was done so well, and utilized the media footage in such a way that really moved me.

I wanted to watch this documentary before the "Milk" film comes out in the fall/winter. I really hope that they do as good of a job on the feature film as was done on the documentary.

I don't think that many people outside of San Francisco or the gay community really know who Harvey Milk was, or how much he did for Human Rights in general(not just Gay Rights). If you have a chance, please rent and watch this documentary. I think there's a lot of important history to learn here, and you'll be glad that you did.