He Was Powerful, Charismatic, Compassionate And Gay. After Eleven Months In Office He Was Assassinated.

Starring: Narrator-Harvey Fierstein, Archive footage-Harvey Milk, Dianne Feinstein, George Moscone, Dan White, John Briggs, Jimmy Carter, Interviews-Anne Kronenberg, Tom Ammiano, Bill Kraus, Sally M. Gearhart, Jim Elliot, Tory Hartmann

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ - great

"I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And You... And You... And You... Gotta give 'em hope. Thank you very much." – Harvey Milk

Why watch this? This man's contribution to equal rights cannot be underestimated.

Plot Summary: This documentary chronicles the life of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist and politician. His journey from a San Francisco neighborhood activist to becoming the first openly gay person elected to public office in California. It examines Milk's efforts to represent San Francisco's minority communities and fight for equal rights, including his work on a gay rights ordinance and the successful defeat of the Briggs Initiative, which aimed to ban gay and lesbian teachers from California public schools.

Dad's Preview: Why do documentaries sadden me so? I think it's because a real story worth telling often encompasses senseless tragedy born from of hate and intolerance. This incredible, well-done documentary does that. You have a delightful, impassioned gay man who stands up for his community, and all minority communities. He's charismatic and wins the hearts of people. He accomplishes change. For that, he's brutally murdered by a model citizen - a councilman, Christian, husband and father, who guit his post, then got pissed because they wouldn't let him come back. Still, nobody talks the assassin. Harvey Milk and his legacy lives on, as do all human rights causes worth fighting for. And the fight continues. This film won the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award in 1985. 

Richard Schmiechen, Rob Epstein; TC Films International