A brilliant work! Best of the best!

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2006)

A number of reviewers are fascinated by the presentation in "Brokeback Mountain" of two "manly" men having sex with each other. The man's man: he's the one who rides a bull, shoots elk, tosses bales of hay from a pick-up and throws punches at strangers when caught in a rage. These reviewers imagine that macho men don't have sex with macho men. Only limp-wristed, swishy queens engage in man-on-man sex. And they grudgingly recognize the lisping queens as long as the sacrosanct image of the macho man is reserved for heterosexual males.
As a gay man, I've a different perspective on this purported conundrum.
I live in a small town in Alaska. My gay friends and I have a joke that goes something like this: Question: "If we hosted a party for the town's gay men, how many would show up?" Answer: "Depends on how many could sneak away from their wives for the evening." In my community, I'd guess there are probably more "gay" married men than "out" gay men. And to a large extent, these closeted men pass as straight because heterosexuals naively imagine that all men are straight. For most of middle-America, gays simply don't exist. A couple of incidents demonstrate this prejudice.
When my partner and I began dating six years back, we were spotted together by a co-worker of his. I'd known the same fellow  let's call him Bob  because we were in opposing camps at various legislative hearings on bills impacting gays & lesbians. At any rate, Bob saw my partner and I together one day. Later, he pulled my partner aside and warned him against associating with me, a known "gay activist"! Now Bob had worked with my partner side-by-side for more than ten years. Though my partner was not married, had never dated a woman during this period, Bob assumed that my partner was straight! And he was warning his "straight" friend against socializing with a known gay man.
In another incident, my partner and I waited in an airport terminal. My partner was greeted by a friend of his family, a man who had known him since he was a boy. My partner introduced me and mentioned to his friend that we were traveling to France and Italy for five weeks. The two spoke for a few minutes. And then his friend asks, "So are you married yet?" What about this picture didn't he understand: two adult men  in their mid- to late-thirties  traveling to Europe for a five-week vacation! Were we just passing time until each of us found a good woman to settle down with? Contrast these experiences with that of another friend. The company he worked for transferred him to the Netherlands for a few years. Shortly after settling into his new home, his neighbor  another male  stopped by to welcome him. One of the first questions he asked my friend: "Have you a girlfriend or boyfriend?" This question revealed that for this man  and perhaps the majority of Dutch citizens  a person isn't assumed to be either gay or straight.
Reviewers who are fixated with the notion of a macho Ennis bedding a manly Jack often buy into the concept that the machismo of the manly man is a fuller, richer expression of masculinity than the stereotyped queen. In short, manly men are real men; queers are half-baked men.
One reviewer goes so far as to suggest that the "manly" qualities of Ennis and Jack make them "fully developed human characters." It's not a description I'd give Ennis. Few other characters in contemporary cinema are so one-sided, so emotionally shut-down as Ennis Del Mar.
For instance, there are at least three scenes in the film where Ennis imagines he may lose Jack, and he has no emotional coping skills to deal with this loss. The first incident takes place shortly after Ennis learns that their stay on Brokeback Mountain will be cut short. Jack is in a playful mood and lassos Ennis. They chum around, an accident happens, and suddenly Ennis grows angry, punches Jack and storms off.
In a second incident, Ennis has just said good-bye to Jackhe moves off to an alley, collapses in sobs and throws punches at a stucco wall. When a stranger shows concern, Ennis rages and screams at the man, warning him away or he'll be whipped.
In the third incident, their last meeting together, Jack wonders aloud at why he can't "quit" Ennis. Ennis begins to sob and when the two are in each other's arms, he begins to hit Jack.
Yes, these incidents suggest that the "macho" man might have a tender side. But the more predominant emotion  indeed, the only emotion that he can effectively express  is rage and angereven to the one he loves! And this in fact sums up the problem of the macho man: save for rage, anger and aggression, the macho man can't feel or express emotions. Most all emotions are bottled up, stuffed until they burst forth in a rage and fury that knows no limits.
The tragedy of "Brokeback Mountain" extends beyond the Ennis's and Jack's of this world. The living tragedy of the film is found in America's favorite cowboys  "W" and "Dick"  wrecking havoc not only at home on the range, but around the world. Cold men with the stiff upper lips who are so divorced from feelings of compassion, empathy and love that their direct responsibility for the criminal slaughter of more than 2,400 Americans, more than a 100,000 Iraqis quite simply is of no concern to them. These are just pesky details that gets lost in the lies and untruths they use to fabricate the cowboy playset they mistake for reality.