Milk - the film, not the drink ...

Finally managed to see Milk, the Sean Penn starring account of the last years of San Francisco-based gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

Not sure what I expected, despite having read plenty about it when it hit cinema screens a few months back. Sean Penn was excellent - which I did expect - but it was somehow more documentary in tone than I had imagined beforehand. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

By all accounts, it was a faithful recreation, with the integrity that you'd expect from both Penn and director Gus Van Sant. But the events portrayed made more of an impact on me than the cinematography or the acting (again, that's probably an indication of the skills and effort involved).

I found it gobsmacking that those events took place just 30 years ago. A mere 3 decades ago, politicians in the US were still confusing homosexuality and paedophilia. And the amount of credibility the churches had then was alarming, although I realise that, for a lot of the US, this remains the case. As do random acts of violence towards anyone even expected of being gay.

And while we may despire about the level of homophobia, racism, xenophobia and religious bigotry sill rooted in society, it does make you realise how far we've come.

Here endeth the sermon! Dearie me, even a happy agnostic can occasionally come over all funny of a Sunday ....