Everything that's Already Been Said About Brokeback Mountain

A film like Brokeback Mountain comes along once every couple of years; cinematography that conquers both the Rocky Mountains and the slightest movement of the eyes, acting that makes me forget that I'm seeing Jake so-and-so from the cover of GQ magazine, directing that assumes the intelligence of its audience. I usually go to the movies for the popcorn, but today, I was too busy enjoying one of the most honest and complicated love stories I think someone has ever been brave enough to put on film. I know a lot has been said about this movie and I'm sure it's far more interesting and complete than my own thoughts. But I really want to say this: I like the idea that gay men are no longer being represented on film by characters like Jack from 'Will and Grace', or Queen Eye for the Straight Guy. I like that 'gay' can still mean 'masculine'. I like the idea that a story can be told about a closeted love affair between two cowboys without making any crude jokes about homosexuality. I like that no matter what sexual orientation we tend towards, there is something real and visceral and primitive about falling in love. It didn't matter to me that it was two men onscreen - the passion was evident; I felt it in my toes. Everyone knows what it's like to be stupid-in-love with someone, in that dizzy, frantic, overwhelming way. The fact that two straight actors could create the same intensity on screen was incredible.

You know what's kind of embarrassing to say? The intimate scenes were awkward to watch, at first. Honestly, I don't think anyone expected them to be so brutally stripped down. There was nothing 'sexy' about it - they weren't romantic, there was no swelling music cutting away to an elegant silhouette of two lovers - it was a man, in his most animal form, taking another man. I could hear people in the audience shuffle in their seats and whisper to each other when Jake Gyllenhaal (who played Lone Ranger Jack Twist) fumbled to undo his belt, and bent over in front of Heath Ledger. Presenting himself - it felt like it was too intimate an act for us to be witnessing. I felt like I was being disrespectful. I felt like I needed swelling music and elegant silhouettes. It occurred to me at some point that the same scene between a man and a woman may not have even captured my attention. We've become totally desensitized to man/woman sex. It's still more common to see a romance between two women onscreen than a male/male one. Consider that it's perfectly acceptable for two girls to kiss each other sloppily while dancing on the stage at AJ's Hanger, but if two men engage in the same act, it's 'gay'. A male/male relationship is essentially one of the last taboos, and I applaud the movie for creating something real for us to understand and be a part of. It doesn't hurt that the movie was filmed in Calgary, my hometown. The first half of the movie was filmed entirely in the mountains, and it took my breath away to remember how beautiful it was there (apparently, during the filming of the Fourth of July scenes in Fort McLeod the crew would get the extras pumped up by telling them to act like the Calgary Flames had just won the Stanley Cup!)

All in all, I was better off for having gone to the movies today; I don't know very many films I've seen that I can honestly say that for. And if I can't sum it up with the right words, perhaps the movie's director, Ang Lee, might have put it best:

"In overwhelmingly perceiving Brokeback Mountain as a revolutionary gay love story, the breathless critical apparatus overlooks the nuances that make this as basic and relatable a romance as Romeo and Juliet. Ang Lee has not made a movie about men and men, or men and women--he has made a movie about souls"