Got Milk?

Well, I finally did, and I'm glad I got to see this movie before it disappears - which it may well do soon, going by the paltry number of showings that my local cineplex is managing.

In some sense it's a fairly conventional film, though flashbacks are used to liven things up a bit. I confess I didn't know the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected politician in the US, and so was a bit surprised when the movie more or less began with the aftermath of him getting shot and killed. Those of us still in the dark then spend the film wondering who exactly it was that pulled the trigger. Which all sort of works.

Two things help lift the movie out of the ordinary. One is the simple power of the story of the struggle for gay rights, which is of course a story that's on-going. The other is Sean Penn, who turns in a masterful performance and one I didn't really think he had in him. There's a nice touch during the end credits when you get to see the main actors, followed by a still of their real-life counterparts; mostly you marvel at how accurate the casting is, but less so when it comes to Milk himself (who looked, to me at least, more like, say, Javier Bardem). I daresay Penn has worked hard to capture mannerisms etc from available footage, and I'd be happy seeing him win an Oscar for this.

But what about the math, I mean, the maths?
Well, here's the thing: you could easily use parts of this movie to do work on percentages and their application in election results, but tell me this: would your school be happy if you did? Would parents be happy seeing their children doing work on gay rights? Tell you what: answer this: if x is the distance we have travelled in the direction of tolerance of gay people since 1978, then
(a) is x positive or negative?
(b) what unit should we best measure x in? km? m? mm?

(I don't mean to be pessimistic, because I do think we have come a long, long way - but by jings this is still a tricky subject when people start talking about schools.)