The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)

Directed by: Rob Epstein | 80 minutes | biography, documentary, history | Starring: Harvey Milk, Anne Kronenberg, Tory Hartmann, Tom Ammiano, Jim Elliot, Henry Der, Jeannine Yeomans, Bill Kraus, Sally M. Gearhart, John Briggs, Jerry Brown, Jimmy Carter, Dianne Feinstein, David Fowler, Joseph Freitas, Terence Hallinan, George Moscone, Dan White

The San Francisco local elections in late 1977 had a surprising outcome. For the first time, a black woman, a committed feminist and an Asian were elected to the city council. Most attention, however, went to Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician to sit on the plush. In particular, he attracted attention for his exceptional gift for clearly expressing his political views. Moreover, he was very charismatic and eloquent. Milk had a wonderful political career ahead that might well have transcended the city limits of Frisco. But a fellow councilor apparently thought otherwise. Arch-conservative Dan White shot and killed Milk and the city’s liberal mayor, George Moscone, on Monday morning, November 27, 1978. The city shuddered with anger, but most of all with grief, especially after White got away with his crimes with just seven years in prison.

Six years after the tragic events in San Francisco, Rob Epstein made the documentary ‘The Times of Harvey Milk’ (1984), in which he examines Milk’s remarkable rise in politics. “For the people living in San Francisco at the time, it felt like life was changing dramatically and all eyes were on us from all over the world. In reality, people outside the city hardly had any idea what impact the murder of Milk and Moscone actually had. That’s why I decided to make this film, to show how much they have meant to our city,” said Epstein. In his documentary, he uses archival footage, photos and footage from local news channels to show how New York-born Milk began his political career. People who witnessed the rise of the human rights activist up close, including his campaign manager Anne Kronenberg and political scientist Sally M. Gearhart, have their say.

But others also express their admiration for Milk. Jim Elliott talks candidly about being gay at first, until he met Milk. “Everything he said appealed to me. All his views and ideas. Plus, he was a great likeable guy.” Henry Der speaks on behalf of the Asian community. He explains that Milk wasn’t just for gays, but for all minority groups in San Francisco—blacks, Jews, disabled, elderly, and Asians—and in that sense was a binding element for all of society. “He stood up for the rights of all residents of the city overlooked by the white elite.” Not so much the contributions of Kronenberg and Gearhart, but the contributions of the people further away from him – Elliot and Der – indicate how effectively Milk has used his limited time as a politician. The interviews are illustrated by compelling archival footage from local news outlets, showing, among other things, Milk addressing the crowd with everyday annoyances like dog poo to make his point. Incidentally, the politician was not afraid to step into a carefully deposited dog turd at the end of the news item for clarification.

Thanks to Milk’s efforts, California managed to stop a dreaded law (Proposition #6) that banned gay teachers from teaching. Opposite the successful and popular Milk was Dan White, who refused to make compromises and made it very difficult for himself to keep his head above water on the council. One day he tendered his resignation to Moscone. After a few days he wanted to go back to that, but the mayor already had a replacement candidate in mind. The embittered, exasperated White – a former police officer and firefighter who until then had been known as the all-American type, ideal son-in-law – couldn’t stomach that and shot Moscone dead. Then Milk had to believe it too.

‘The Times of Harvey Milk’ impressively shows how the city responded to the murders, with peaceful silent marches that drew more than 45,000 people. The images still send shivers down your body. Epstein continues his film with footage from the trial against White, where he has the interviewees give their opinion about why the low sentence. What would have happened if White had only killed Moscone, would he have received an appropriate punishment? And why were there only people from the white elite on the jury? These evocative questions are the only (minor) blemish on this otherwise excellent historical, Oscar-winning documentary about an endearing and persistent politician who was almost forgotten outside of San Francisco. Fortunately, Epstein and Gus Van Sant (with the biopic ‘Milk’, 2008) have given film buffs and political parties a worthy tribute to Harvey Milk.