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There are few times in cinema in which I am moved to tears. As far as documentaries are concerned, they have been few and far between, but I do remember the moments when they happen. I remember the moment in Hoop Dreams where Arthur Agee is set up to have a match with his sports hero Isiah Thomas, the unscripted joy in the boys face brought tears to my eyes. I remember watching Ken Burn's The Civil War and utterly falling apart of the overwhelming horrors blacks slaves endured on a daily basis, especially realizing that many of the old slaves, who would inevitably be set "free" at the end of the bloodiest war in American history, would never truly know the precious "freedom" we take for granted today. Today I also shed a tear, once again for human liberty and human rights with The Times of Harvey Milk.
The cinematic documentary format has been for years, and still is today, a shaky format. In his book Making Documentary Films and Videos, Barry Hampe has critisized his very own format for falling into the traps of docudramas, reality television, and docuganda. I tend to agree with his criticism; real documentaries are not Schindler's List, real documentaries are not Survivor, and real documentaries, (currently popular today), are not Bowling for Columbine, or to swing the other way, Stolen Honor. Documentaries, as Hampe puts it, are "truth" or "as close to the whole truth" as one can get. Sadly, much of this notion seems to be lost in a sea of corporate ambitions to use "documentaries" as a way to appeal to a denominator of people not interested in "the truth"; or it is lost the sea of todays highly polarized politics, without care of giving all the facts.
However, I was pleasantly surprised with The Times of Harvey Milk. Here I came into it expecting a "docuganda" film on the politics of the man himself, instead, the impression that was ingrained on me in the end was a cry out for basic human rights. I never once felt coerced into believing a "political ideology", which this film could have easily become, but rather a statement that we should love all our brothers and sisters regardless of race, sexual orientation, or, and especially or, creed.
Harvey Milk was a gay democrat, yet he managed to bring people together and pushed this nation a little further into the notion that equal rights should be just that, equal. That's what the films ultimate statement is on. I don't even think the film is completely, (though it is), a statement on just "gay rights". It is a statement on equality, and that's what makes this film so lasting and true. The minute they showed all the people marching along the San Francisco streets at night to honor the deaths of Milk and Moscone, I couldn't help but cry. It just showed that out of complete chaos and disorder, human decency could still exist. Though the aftermath of the killings was completely unfair, the documentary shows that even in death the spirit and influence of Harvey Milk continues to live on. Even though Dan White got away with murder, Milk still won in the end.
For anyone who is interested in documentaries, I highly recommend The Times of Harvey Milk.
The Times of Harvey Milk(1984)
There are few times in cinema in which I am moved to tears. As far as documentaries are concerned, they have been few and far between, but I do remember the moments when they happen. I remember the moment in Hoop Dreams where Arthur Agee is set up to have a match with his sports hero Isiah Thomas, the unscripted joy in the boys face brought tears to my eyes. I remember watching Ken Burn's The Civil War and utterly falling apart of the overwhelming horrors blacks slaves endured on a daily basis, especially realizing that many of the old slaves, who would inevitably be set "free" at the end of the bloodiest war in American history, would never truly know the precious "freedom" we take for granted today. Today I also shed a tear, once again for human liberty and human rights with The Times of Harvey Milk.
The cinematic documentary format has been for years, and still is today, a shaky format. In his book Making Documentary Films and Videos, Barry Hampe has critisized his very own format for falling into the traps of docudramas, reality television, and docuganda. I tend to agree with his criticism; real documentaries are not Schindler's List, real documentaries are not Survivor, and real documentaries, (currently popular today), are not Bowling for Columbine, or to swing the other way, Stolen Honor. Documentaries, as Hampe puts it, are "truth" or "as close to the whole truth" as one can get. Sadly, much of this notion seems to be lost in a sea of corporate ambitions to use "documentaries" as a way to appeal to a denominator of people not interested in "the truth"; or it is lost the sea of todays highly polarized politics, without care of giving all the facts.
However, I was pleasantly surprised with The Times of Harvey Milk. Here I came into it expecting a "docuganda" film on the politics of the man himself, instead, the impression that was ingrained on me in the end was a cry out for basic human rights. I never once felt coerced into believing a "political ideology", which this film could have easily become, but rather a statement that we should love all our brothers and sisters regardless of race, sexual orientation, or, and especially or, creed.
Harvey Milk was a gay democrat, yet he managed to bring people together and pushed this nation a little further into the notion that equal rights should be just that, equal. That's what the films ultimate statement is on. I don't even think the film is completely, (though it is), a statement on just "gay rights". It is a statement on equality, and that's what makes this film so lasting and true. The minute they showed all the people marching along the San Francisco streets at night to honor the deaths of Milk and Moscone, I couldn't help but cry. It just showed that out of complete chaos and disorder, human decency could still exist. Though the aftermath of the killings was completely unfair, the documentary shows that even in death the spirit and influence of Harvey Milk continues to live on. Even though Dan White got away with murder, Milk still won in the end.
For anyone who is interested in documentaries, I highly recommend The Times of Harvey Milk.
My Rating:
4 Stars of 5
4 Stars of 5