James Schamus, the producer of Brokeback Mountain, has
said, “If you have a problem [with the gay love story], that’s your
problem,
not mine.” Which is an admirable
sentiment but not, as anyone who has worked on gay
rights, reproductive rights, teaching evolution in public schools, etc., could tell
you, one
that is very successful at opening minds, changing minds, or even just
getting
the religious wackos
to
live and let live. At the showing I went
to, the audience consisted of gay couples and single women, with the
exception
of one heterosexual couple in their 60s.
That’s pretty sad, because all the guys who are cracking jokes
to mask
their uneasiness with the subject matter are missing a beautiful and
quietly
powerful film.
If you’ve been living under a rock, Brokeback Mountain is the
story of two cowboys (actually, shepherds) who fall in love and spend
the rest
of their lives going through the motions with wives and kids while
taking
solace in occasional “fishing trips” where they can be together. Although Heath Ledger is the one garnering
awards, I preferred Jake Gyllenhaal’s more nakedly vulnerable
performance as
Jack (maybe partly because I couldn’t understand what Ledger was saying
half
the time). But Ledger is excellent, too,
with a stoic demeanor that makes his bursts of emotion all the more
poignant.
The movie is as beautifully made as most of
director Ang
Lee’s work. It’s set in the 1960s
through the 1980s, but it could be the 1860s – it’s completely divorced
from
time and what’s going on in the rest of the country.
One of the things I liked about it was the
relative paucity of dialogue, in keeping with the spare, tight-lipped
ethos of
the West. So much is told through
gestures, glances, body language;
Gyllenhaal conveys more with his back turned than most actors
could hope
to communicate facing the camera. Even the landscapes help to
tell the story.
The latter part of the film, in which the two
men struggle
with their heterosexual relationships, is rather drawn out. I mean, we get it – their everyday lives are
bleak and empty, they’re lonely, they’re only happy with each other –
yes, yes,
now get to the hot gay sex! (I’m
kidding; actually, there isn’t anything explicit. This
is a movie about loneliness, need, love
– but not about sex.) But it builds to a
powerful, heart-wrenching ending. If
you’re not crying when Ledger’s Ennis is visiting Jack’s parents, well,
you’re
made of sterner stuff than I.
If the story breaks your heart, the scenery
will stop
it. The mountains of Wyoming are
stunning, and a vivid contrast with both the drab, shabby homes that
Ennis and
his wife Alma (a pinched-looking Michelle Williams) share and the
cookie-cutter
suburban house where Jack and his wife Lureen (Anne Hathaway, who
offers
subtle, wordlessly eloquent reactions) live.
The wilderness is the only place the men can be together, a sort
of Eden.
So, if you’re a straight man feeling
squeamish about seeing a
gay love story, I have one thing to say:
Get over it.
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