wow...
So everyone else posted their review of Brokeback Mountain, and I finally saw it tonight so here
Again, as I said when I wrote about seeing Rent, I'm not like most people on LJ in that I don't make movies, write scripts, or have any background whatsoever in cinema, theater, or anything of the such. I go to movies and base my opinion of the film on how it makes me feel as I'm sitting there watching it and how it makes me feel once I leave.
Going into this film, I already knew that Ennis and Jack weren't going to end up together. I knew that the movie had a tragic ending, and I accepted that. And honestly, that did not take away from the movie one bit for me. To have set a movie in 1963, in the heart of two of the Redest states (home of the Bushes and the state where Matthew Shepard was gay bashed and left to die), and for it to have an ending where the two men end up together would have not only been too typically "Hollywood," but it would have been insulting to what otherwise was a great script and a great movie. As depressing as the reality of this film was, I appreciated it for that rawness and that ability to show how torn these two men really were. And it showed this love as simply and -- though I hate to use the word -- "normal" as any heterosexual love. Even though these men were torn about what they felt and how to deal with it, it was undeniable that they loved each other and couldn't rid themselves of that feeling no matter how socially unacceptable it was.
I'll agree withchemology here that there was not enough expression of that love (either verbally or physically) between these two men. Jack definitely was the more "verbal" of the two, and when he said things like "Sometimes I miss you so much..." and that he and his wife's marriage could be "done over the telephone", and talks about the two of them living a life together, I felt like he was truly in love with Ennis. But Ennis I never truly felt was into the relationship... until the end of the film. But even then, it killed me that the last line of the film was "Jack, I swear" instead of "Jack, I love you"... (btw, what exactly did the "I swear" refer to??)
Aside from this downfall, this movie hit me like no other I have seen. I have honestly never cried that much in public during a movie before, and no matter how hard I tried to hold it all in, it was all to no avail. What was really hard to watch about it was that no matter what had happened between Ennis and Jack, the ending would have been the same. The two were living in a time and in a place where no matter how much they both wanted it, there was no way they could have ended up together and lived happily.
I saw this movie with my straight friend who, when we walked out of the movie, said to me "thank God times have changed and shit like that doesn't happen anymore." But the sad reality is that it does still happen: gay bashings, people hiding in the closet for their entire lives, lost loves. Yet those who really need to see this movie, to see the torture that discrimination and homophobia bring, will never see it because it will come to middle America with the stigma of being the "gay cowboy movie".
There is absolutely no reason to not see this movie. Don't expect the "feel good movie of the Holiday season"... but do expect a beautiful movie (from the scenery to the acting to the story) that will pull at your heartstrings like no other.
BTW, for those of you who have seen it already, did you notice the audience laughing at the WORST times ever... like when Michelle Williams sees Jack and Ennis kissing, the whole audience started cracking up. And during the two mens' last visit to Brokeback, I can't remember exactly what line it was, but there was NOTHING funny about that scene, yet the whole audience was laughing. I wanted to get up and scream "What the fuck's so funny you insensitive pricks!"
Again, as I said when I wrote about seeing Rent, I'm not like most people on LJ in that I don't make movies, write scripts, or have any background whatsoever in cinema, theater, or anything of the such. I go to movies and base my opinion of the film on how it makes me feel as I'm sitting there watching it and how it makes me feel once I leave.
Going into this film, I already knew that Ennis and Jack weren't going to end up together. I knew that the movie had a tragic ending, and I accepted that. And honestly, that did not take away from the movie one bit for me. To have set a movie in 1963, in the heart of two of the Redest states (home of the Bushes and the state where Matthew Shepard was gay bashed and left to die), and for it to have an ending where the two men end up together would have not only been too typically "Hollywood," but it would have been insulting to what otherwise was a great script and a great movie. As depressing as the reality of this film was, I appreciated it for that rawness and that ability to show how torn these two men really were. And it showed this love as simply and -- though I hate to use the word -- "normal" as any heterosexual love. Even though these men were torn about what they felt and how to deal with it, it was undeniable that they loved each other and couldn't rid themselves of that feeling no matter how socially unacceptable it was.
I'll agree withchemology here that there was not enough expression of that love (either verbally or physically) between these two men. Jack definitely was the more "verbal" of the two, and when he said things like "Sometimes I miss you so much..." and that he and his wife's marriage could be "done over the telephone", and talks about the two of them living a life together, I felt like he was truly in love with Ennis. But Ennis I never truly felt was into the relationship... until the end of the film. But even then, it killed me that the last line of the film was "Jack, I swear" instead of "Jack, I love you"... (btw, what exactly did the "I swear" refer to??)
Aside from this downfall, this movie hit me like no other I have seen. I have honestly never cried that much in public during a movie before, and no matter how hard I tried to hold it all in, it was all to no avail. What was really hard to watch about it was that no matter what had happened between Ennis and Jack, the ending would have been the same. The two were living in a time and in a place where no matter how much they both wanted it, there was no way they could have ended up together and lived happily.
I saw this movie with my straight friend who, when we walked out of the movie, said to me "thank God times have changed and shit like that doesn't happen anymore." But the sad reality is that it does still happen: gay bashings, people hiding in the closet for their entire lives, lost loves. Yet those who really need to see this movie, to see the torture that discrimination and homophobia bring, will never see it because it will come to middle America with the stigma of being the "gay cowboy movie".
There is absolutely no reason to not see this movie. Don't expect the "feel good movie of the Holiday season"... but do expect a beautiful movie (from the scenery to the acting to the story) that will pull at your heartstrings like no other.
BTW, for those of you who have seen it already, did you notice the audience laughing at the WORST times ever... like when Michelle Williams sees Jack and Ennis kissing, the whole audience started cracking up. And during the two mens' last visit to Brokeback, I can't remember exactly what line it was, but there was NOTHING funny about that scene, yet the whole audience was laughing. I wanted to get up and scream "What the fuck's so funny you insensitive pricks!"