Sorry Christopher, but you missed it whether or not you intended to avoid the Hollywood hype. Perhaps you are well traveled and well read, but your review on Brokeback Mountain makes you sound like you seldom ventured beyond the Australian outback. The movie is not about wannabe cowboys or being gay. It is a tragic love story between two young and lonely guys who were raised in rural Wyoming. Nevertheless, it's ok you walked away from this beautiful little movie and felt nothing. The fact it touched and provoked millions of others renews my hope for a world where the choice to love anyone can come freely.

Wow, you missed the best movie in this time of life. Have you ever been in love? I doubt it. Go back and see it again. It leaves one speechless. I'm 67, female and a grandmother....I loved the film!

Christopher, Watch the movie again and pay close attention to the faces emoting. The clues and hints are all silently there for you to see, notwithstanding Ledger's elocution. The look of misery on Michelle William's character, Alma, for example. There are no mincing drama queens in this "gay" film, thank God; just dirt poor kids and normal people. A doomed, impossible love; just kills me everytime I see this movie.
NJ

"...relies too much on stereotypes" Sorry, don't get that one.

"Not placed in historical context"...I'm missing your point on that one, too...rural/remote Wyoming in '63 was more like USA in '53 (i.e. ten years behind the rest of the country).

Not understanding "the rough love thing"...I am not clear exactly what that means, but I assume you find it hard to believe they burst onto the sex-scene. The first 20min is nothing BUT courtship. All rather subtle, however, if you were to put a female in one of those lead roles, the flirting is obvious.

The moment I saw the word homosexual instead of gay in the first sentence I knew what the mind set of the author was, and I was right.

Hello. Thanks for your comments. I wasn't aware that my review was so abrasive. I'm not sure if you want me to respond or would rather pummel away at a straw man. Maybe this will only fan your flames. I never said the film was about wannabe cowboys or being gay, but that's the way it was usually talked about in the media, thus forming my preconceptions. (And anyway, my joke was that they were shepherds in a Marlboro ad. There wasn't a cow in sight.) My problem was that I'd already been told the story secondhand before I saw it. I wasn't able to let the movie convince me on its own. Whatever the deal, I usually react against public opinion. I didn't care when Diana or the Queen Mother died. I have no intention of reading or watching The Da Vinci Code. I stopped after the first Harry Potter book. I was bored to sleep by The Lord of the Rings. I don't want or need an iPod.

Yes, I have been in love. Usually with Maud Gonne characters in impossible situations. My love is usually either unrequited or for someone who already has a partner. In that sense, my love for my inamorata is forbidden or wrong. So I can empathize with the characters. Read my self-portrait to find out a little more, if you like. (Link provided in my author bio.)

My problem with the acting was that you did have to watch the faces "emoting", as you say. It was too self-conscious, too deliberate, and hence, to me, implausible.

The stereotypes in the film were not the lead characters but the supporting cast and the backward opinions of the community, or Ennis and Jack's fears of how they would be received. The fathers, for example, or the shepherds' manager. These characters were not developed, nor could they have been because the film was not about them. Had they emphasized more of the historical context, maybe they wouldn't have had to use these stereotypes to show how unprogressive Wyoming was in the 60s. But then, maybe just a date is enough. I'm not quite sure what I mean by relying on stereotypes either, so thanks for pointing it out. I shall go away and think about it. I just wish in marketing the film they could have made less of a song and dance about the fact that it was two men in love because that makes it out to be exceptional. Treating something as an exception is not accepting it. I said I don't buy the rough love thing; I do understand it.

The fact that I didn't like the film doesn't say anything about my mind set except that I like to form my own opinion. The fact that I'm judged for using "homosexual" rather than "gay" could tell me more about yours. I use both terms in the review and deliberately avoid treading lightly with political correctness slippers on. I don't like how simple words become so loaded. I have no problem with the idea of the film or the relationship it portrays. I just didn't think it executed it too well.

For films with better portrayals of a relationship, I'd recommend, The Crying Game, When Harry Met Sally..., On Golden Pond, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. This film reminded me too much of The Bridges of Madison County (the book; I haven't seen the film), which, to me, was twee and a bit sick-making.

Chris you either slept through most of the movie or didn't see it. No cows in the movie??? there's a scene about mid movie where they cut back and forth between Jack riding bulls in the rodeo and Ennis yelling "C'mon!" while feeding hay off the back of a truck to a bunch of cows which was his job on the ranch before he switched to herding horses as a cowboy for a living, which is mentioned several times in the movie such as "I've got to be at a roundup near the Tetons"... or didn't you know what a roundup is?

Either get better cliff notes, or use my review of the movie posted April 4th on this site as a reference...

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. They were shepherds at the beginning, though.

Go read my revieew at the url I gave you in #7, it's discussed over the whole first third of the movie that they're so down onw their luck the couldn't get jobs on ranches.

If a man's a plumber and can't get work so he takes a job at McDonalds until one comes along, does that give people the right to say he's not a plumber?

The latter 2/3 of the movie is all about Ennis working cattle and horses on ranches, and Jack spends the middle third riding bulls in rodeos!

From reading your comments, I don't even understand why you reviewed this movie, unless it was just a slap in the face of people who loved it, months after it came out and almost 2 months after it came out on DVD.

You even recommened movies that you think are better and in the same sentence admit you've never seen them???????

"This film reminded me too much of The Bridges of Madison County (the book; I haven't seen the film"

Give me a break!

Hi Jet,

I did read your review. It's more balanced than mine, but then you like the movie. You admit yourself that there are production flaws. I just saw more of them. My quibble isn't with the plot or characters in the film, or their actions; it's with the way the film was made, acted and marketed.

Okay. You win. They are cowboys...in a Marlboro ad.

I review every film I see; not just the ones I like. I wrote this review after seeing the film late in the cinema. I didn't catch it first time round. My review was originally published on my blog on 30 March. Follow the link to "ickleReviews" in the left-hand menu of my blog if you want a better sample of my style and taste.

For the record, I didn't recommend The Bridges of Madison County the movie. I said Brokeback reminded me of the book. I didn't like the book and don't intend to see the film of Bridges. Each of the films I mention, I have seen (except My Beautiful Laundrette, which I cite in the review, but which I believe on good authority is worth seeing).

I guess I don't like the labels that are used: "gay" or "cowboy". That's more what I mean by stereotypes. These aren't used in the film, but they are used of it. We don't talk about a "straight" love story, do we? Why can't they just be people like I am Chris and you are Jet?

In a more general sense, do you think that people who identify themselves as outsiders ever stand a chance of being treated as insiders?

People who label it a 'gay cowboy' movie attempt to trivialize it or dismiss it's importance.

Your note of the Crying Game is a worthy one, the Crying Game did cover the dynamics of a forbidden relationship, however people got wrapped up in the 'surprise' and forgot the premise of the movie, just like people get wrapped up in the brief, clothed sex scene between Jack and Ennis and forget the premise of the movie.

For me, this film was important because it showed gay people as real people and not limp wristed caractures, while making them the main characters as well.

Ennis was in the closet, which trains you to refrain from showing emotion, and when you add to that the fact that the cowboy mentality, whether gay OR straight is that boys don't cry, then you might have a better understanding of why he mumbles. It's to not show emotion, something that in certain times and places can lead to your death.

I didn't buy the whole rough love thing

oh, it's very real.

The relationship between the two leads is implausible

it's very real as well, I've lived it. What is implausible about it?

I understand why Ennis mumbles. I was just irritated that I couldn't hear what he was saying half the time. Was that deliberate or was the sound system at the Ultimate Picture Palace in Oxford just that bad? Is the sound clearer on the DVD? Were you supposed to miss what he was saying? I was quite happy not to be privileged to hear what Bill Murray whispers to Scarlett Johansson at the end of Lost in Translation.

I didn't believe Jack and Ennis loved each other based on the actors' performances. I knew they were supposed to be in love, and I believed in the situation, I just didn't think the actors did a good enough job of conveying it. Not that it's an easy thing to do, especially when they're still trying to be macho at the same time. Speaking of which, Boys Don't Cry does a better job of plausibility.

A question about netiquette: is it okay to respond to comments about my own post?

Chris I feel not to respond to comments on my posts is a sign of discarding someone's opinion. I respond to each and every comment as a matter of courtesy and acknowledgement.

Jet

Christopher, Those were coyotes in the movie, not wolves so you can nix the wolf-sheep metaphor. I had no trouble understanding Ennis but perhaps that is because growing up I spent time around rodeos and with people who spoke like him. (My accent is flat Mid-Western). It is a tribute to the Aussie Heath Ledger's mastery of his craft that he is able to play and speak the part of Ennis Del Mar so convincingly. Next time, turn on the subtitles as if you were watching a foreign film, but don't pan the movie because you can't figure out Ledger's accent or elocution. I take it you haven't met too many athletic, masculine-type gay individuals at Oxford? (Why not check out "Maurice" on DVD?). The rough & tumble relationship (replete with denial)between Jack and Ennis is very real, just as SteveS pointed out. I should know.
NJ

Better yet check out a movie called "Another Country"

Well I'm speechless myself, at how a young man at a well known venue of academia, should not know that this movie was taken from a prize winning (1997 O'Henry Award) SHORT STORY. The movie is quite true to the beautiful prose of Ms Annie Proulx's original, and used much if not every word exactly as she wrote it.

The flavor and personas of the characters are perfectly as she wrote them. Ennis' character is a brooding and deeply repressed individual, who shows that how deeply he is repressed when he yells at the bystander who comes upon him in the alleyway after his departure from his only true love Jack Twist. Even his name "Ennis" means lonely island.

The "mumbling" is ON PURPOSE. It was how he was -- repressed and closeted.

Yes some scenes seem contrived, and most of those are the fleshed out and made up scenes that are not in the short story.

But the part about the shirts, is deeply moving and if you had ever lost someone that you loved that deeply, and were able to for one last time, touch and smell them (as Ennis was trying to do in the closet with the shirts)you'd understand what the storyteller was trying to convey.

At the very end, when Ennis says "Jack, I swear..." who knows what he means, and that alone sticks a dagger into your heart. Or at least it did mine....is it "Jack, I swear I'll always love you" ? or is it "Jack, I swear I'll never forget you" ? etc etc....its very well thought out.

As for Heath Ledger, I cannot begin to tell you how good of an actor this man is. His talent is amazing. Just watch his 5 (yes FIVE) films that came out in 2005 -- and see the varied characters he played -- all with extreme distinction. He filmed The Brothers Grimm, then 21 days later went to work on the set of Brokeback Mountain, finished that in July 2004, and 6 weeks later flew to Italy to star in "Casanova" playing the lead part in that fun comedy romp. The incredibly different characters -- all within a matter of a few months. He is genius (my opinion) and should have been a shoo-in for every acting award this past year.

"Jack I swear" is explained in the book. Through their whole relastion ship Ennis had never sworn his love to Jack, and did it then, though it was too late.

I get the distinct impression he only saw this movie once, and probably went out for popcorn a lot, or was too busy making jokes with whomever he went with.

I did a much more serious review of this film.

As for the rough love, if you'd see it a second time the sexual tension between the two begins building the moment they lay eyes on each other and can't stop staring. All the longing looks from Jack looking down from the mountian to see Ennis' campfire, all the longing looks from Ennis looking up the mountain for Jack.

finally with a little whiskey, they loosened up and couldn't take it anymore and their passsion exploded.

simple explanation

I am a 66 year old grandmother and watched the film twice in two days so I could sort out my feelings and understand the accents. This was a film that touched me deeply and both men did a great job portraying their love for each other. It is no different thn a forbidden heterosexual love. Everyone suffers and if you have ever been in love you would understand this movie.