I don't get to the movies nearly as often as I should. This winter has been better than most, but I still haven't made it to the theater to see Milk, which I think is still playing. I decided instead to put it in my Netflix queue just in case.

A friend who saw it said it's not nearly as good as the 1984 documentary we watched in college entitled The Times of Harvey Milk, which prompted me to put that on Netflix and watch it prior to seeing the Hollywood version.

For anyone not familiar, this documentary is the real deal with footage of the real Harvey Milk, his friends, and others from the San Francisco area, including a very young Dianne Feinstein, who's always been one of my favorite US politicians.

The Times of Harvey Milk, conceived and directed by Rob Epstein and produced by Richard Schmiechen, documents the political career of Harvey Milk, who was San Francisco's first openly gay supervisor. The film, at times humorous, at times tragic, documents the rise of Milk from a neighborhood activist to becoming a symbol of gay political achievement, through to his assassination at San Francisco's city hall, and the Dan White trial and aftermath.

The film was produced after Milk's death using original interviews, exclusive documentary footage, news reports, and archival footage, so that Milk is credited as the lead (posthumously). Other politicians including San Francisco mayor George Moscone (who was assassinated with Milk), and Moscone's successor and now United States Senator Dianne Feinstein appear in archival footage. The movie opens with a tearful Feinstein delivering her announcement to the media that Moscone and Milk had been assassinated by Dan White.

Read the full Wiki here, get more info on IMDB, and check out the official site for the film. If you've seen Milk, you'll definitely want to check this out.

I just discovered this: you can watch the full movie on Hulu! And I thought they just had episodes of SNL and 30 Rock.