Brokeback Mountain
I finally saw the “gay cowboy” movie, Brokeback Mountain, yesterday at a theatre near my home in Cobb County, Georgia (which has a reputation for not being very gay-friendly). It was showing on two screens, and the theatre was packed for a matinee showing.
The “gay cowboy” label does a disservice to the movie by trivializing it. Brokeback Mountain is the very moving story of two men who fall in love with each other in 1963 Wyoming – not at all a safe time or place to do so. The movie shows how the secretiveness of their relationship, and their inability to be true to their own hearts, causes pain for themselves as well as to others.
A friend of mine wrote, “Watching Jack Twist [one of the main characters] carry a lamb over his shoulders while crossing a stream made me think about all the Good Shepherd pictures I saw in Sunday School growing up; I choked up.” That scene reminded me of the Good Shepherd, too, as did the scene of Jack removing a thorn from a lamb's foot.
The one thing that didn't ring true to me was the initial sex scene. There was none of the awkwardness or tentativeness that comes with a first encounter (whether gay or straight). Those boys acted a little too experienced for me to really believe that was their first time.
I cried several times during the movie, especially at the end. It was a beautiful and deeply moving love story with an ending that I won't give away here, but I should have seen it coming, given that the screenplay was co-written by Larry McMurtry (who was also a producer of the movie). McMurtry's novels and movies always contain some element of despair, yet, like the stories of Flannery O’Connor, they are very realistic, sometimes disturbingly so.
I’m looking forward to getting the soundtrack CD, which contains songs by two of my favorite Americana singers, Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle – as well as a very moving cover (over the end credits) of Bob Dylan’s “He Was a Friend of Mine,” by Willie Nelson.
Above all, the movie made me deeply grateful, as a gay man, for the times in my life when I have followed my heart and been true to myself. I am grateful that I live in a time and a place where it is (relatively) safe for me to do so.
posted by Darrell Grizzle | 10:57 PM
10 Comments:
I want to see this movie. EVERY single person who has seen it, praises it.
I hope I live to see the day when it is more than "(relatively) safe" for you.
I am 64, and was raised in the south. It was illegal to be gay. And very UNsafe to be perceived as gay.
Those of us who are older have a different perception of these situations. I am glad that the world has changed.
The movie is not released for viewing in Australia until January 26. But I have bought the book or Annie Proulx's short stories. She is a wonderful writer anyway.
Mal (aka superbbluewren)
I'm with you Mal. A friend gave me Annie's book of short stories, including Brokeback Mountain a few years ago. My partner Graeme and I are looking forward to when the film is released in Darwin cinemas later in the month.
Darryl
Really wish this movie would come to our area, we want to see it but will probably have to wait for the dvd. It looks like a beautiful love story with "love" being the focal point... so what if it's two guys- it's still love...and comes with lessons for all lovers.
"Oh when will they ever learn?"
I agree very much with your thoughts, Darrell. They sure didn't seem like first-timers to me. Overall, an excellent tragic romance. But my favorite gay movies are still Lilies and Latter Days.
having just seen the movie last night i had to come home and read the book.
i have been reading so many revues of this movie i felt i knew the story.
a lot of critiques center on jakes cheesy moustache and the sex in haste scene.
both these things appear in the story.
read the story.
i have NEVER seen a movie that so closely matches the book
If they're herding sheep, then they ain't cowboys. "Sheep boys," maybe?
Theophilus Punk
Theophilus Punk, my Deadhead friend! Welcome back to the blogosphere!
The two main characters in Brokeback Mountain are working a sheep-herding job when they first meet, but over the next twenty years they both take on cowboy jobs from time to time (including rodeo riding), and they refer to themselves as cowboys a couple of times in the movie.
Just saw this movie on Friday night after reading your review, Darrel. I reviewed it on my blog in addition to working up a sweat over the bizarre-o Chritian boycott afoot.
JulieUnplugged
I can't stop thinking about this movie. It captures everything you'd hope a love story would capture, in addition to showing the rest of us just how invisibly cruel we've been to homosexuals for decades.
Have you read Maurice by E.M. Forster? Published post-humously, it is his story of what it was like to be gay during the first part of the 20th century in England. He's a wonderful writer and gave me so much insight into a world I haven't known.
Julie
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