THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK (1984) | Dir: Rob Epstein | Few films have affected me as much as this one. It’s definitely in the top ten most-watched films of my life, a film I return to when I am struggling to find hope, which is ironic, since Harvey Milk was assassinated because he was gay. “Hope” seemed to be one of Harvey Milk’s favorite words, something he insisted everyone must provide to the generations that follow. “You’ve got to give them hope,” he said. "Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us'es, the us'es will give up.” It’s an extraordinary documentary. The filmmaking is largely archival video and photographs intercut with interviews and voiceover narration from Harvey Fierstein. It’s an example of the “talking head”-style interview at its most effective, with each subject telling a piece of the story, opening themselves up to the filmmakers and allowing the audience access to their most vulnerable moments. I find the interviews with Sally Gearhart, Tom Ammiano and Tory Hartmann (see her clip included here) to be particularly moving. If you have never seen this documentary, I highly recommend, especially if you’re struggling to have hope in these times.