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The Times of Harvey Milk, Directed by Rob Epstein
Black Sand Productions, November 1, 1984 (US)
Written by: Judith Cobun and Carter Wilson
Starring: Harvey Milk and Harvey Fierstein
A flame. The eloquence and power inherent in the symbol of a flame cannot be captured in words or pictures. You cannot see holiness. What is on the outside, visible to the eye, is entirely physical, a red orange orgy of fury that reaches out, reaches up. It is a fiery bouquet. Each flame burns with a vengeance all its own, as if ready at any moment to break free from the whole and leapfrog the sky. Up, beyond: The flight of the flame is forever seeking.
Here, the flames stretch well beyond Market Street bleeding up Polk to City Hall. The power of the universe is burning atop tiny cylinders made of nothing but wax and wick. Each fragile flame flickers delicately but steadfast in the wind, painting teardrops over unending darkness, leaving a staggering wake of tortured grief that trails beyond the scope of our ability to envision a road to healing.
A city weeps quietly in the glow, hushed and bound by shock. The blessing of a spirit is at hand. A hero’s soul, released, offered up into the unimaginable void. Each dancing flame waves its own silent goodbye. Tens of thousands comprise the whole. Farewell. On and on forever, farewell.
Although the hero’s duties have now ceased, the lights that shine over this night shall burn on without end, constructing an unbreakable fortress of peace. It is an overwhelming and unprecedented response to violence. That anger demanded action but peace prevailed, what a glorious and triumphant tribute to the man who possessed the courage and conviction to believe that he alone could affect a difference.
They have walked among us. They walk on. We follow. It’s easy. The trail is impossible to miss, glazed with crystals that shimmer in the embrace of sunlit lasers, shining prisms of light in all directions. The land is covered in light, protected and warm, as far as the eyes can see. And beyond.
All is peace.
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
-G
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