We were last at the Tower Theatre to see Slumdog Millionaire just before Christmas. I nominated Slumdog Millionaire in my blog as Best Movie of 2008, and was thrilled to see it win Best Picture and all the other Oscars, but the Best Actor nominations had me glued to the TV.
Sunday, it was pouring rain in Sacramento -- some streets in Land Park were flooded, but I was still determined to go to the Tower Theatre. I scheduled all my real estate appointments tightly last week to give me this window of free time so I could go with my husband to the movies. If I wanted to see MILK with Sean Penn before the Academy Awards, yesterday was the day to do it.
If it hadn't been raining, we would have walked to the Tower Theatre, but we drove and there was no place to park. The parking lot was jammed full. The surrounding streets -- Land Park Drive, Marty Way, Burnett, 14th, Larkin -- had cars parked bumper to bumper. We were forced to park on the other side of Walgreens.
Seating was packed as well. My neck still aches from looking up at the screen from the fourth row.
MILK, if you don' t know, tells the story of Harvey Milk, a San Francisco gay rights activist and city supervisor, during the last 8 years of his life. You know how the story ends walking in, but the movie keeps you so focused on the story that it's easy to forget that the events depicted actually happened, and they happened in my lifetime.
I was selling real estate in Newport Beach, in southern California in the 1970s, when Harvey Milk was elected City Supervisor in San Francisco. I remember the disturbing alliance between orange-juice queen Anita Bryant and ultra-conservative Senator Briggs, which brought Milk into the limelight for me. I witnessed first-hand the bigotry, self-centeredness and outrageously righteous behavior of closed-minded people in Orange County. That was the part of the movie that made me cry.
It made me cry because I don't understand their obsession or why they are filled with rage and hatred toward humankind. Every person on this planet deserves basic human rights.
Part of the movie deals with gay rights in housing and employment, and the struggle to make it against the law to discriminate. The gay community is facing the similar challenges today, trying to obtain the very basic right to marry, stripped from them by zealots.
Harvey Milk encouraged coming "out of the closet" to friends, family and associates, to let other people know that, yes, they probably do know a gay person, and gay people are not evil. They're just like you and me.
Dustin Lance Black won the Oscar last night for best original screenplay for MILK. Sean Penn won best actor; his performance was tender, kind, sweet and powerful. Go see this movie. You won't be disappointed, and even if it makes you cry a little, the ending dries those tears.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming June 2009.
Photo: Big Stock Photo
---
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
