I'll remember it as the spark.

Rating: Null/10 (13 January 2006)

I think it's safe to say that when 2006 and 2007 are filled with more and more gay-themed films, Brokeback Mountain will deserve credit as the spark that lit the fire.
I hear lots of straight people, namely my parents, complaining already that now every sitcom "has to have a gay person on it" and I respond, quite truthfully, "There was a time when every TV show had to have a black person, too. Now it's nothing to even think about. It's a process of acceptance, and the media is just acting on it like they're supposed to." As a young, gay male living in Kentucky, I suppose I'm lucky to be in Louisville, the northernmost, not to mention, most diverse city in the state. But it's sad I still have to be "lucky" that I'm hated to a less degree... I shouldn't be hated at all. Politics aside, on to the film.
I had been hoping for a triumphant love story that left me beaming. I didn't get that. As a lover of cinema, I have to say that this is one of the most well done films in the last 3 or 4 years. I was thrilled to be there on opening night.
Jake Gyllenhaal, best known as Donnie Darko, fulfilled one of my personal fantasies in this role, Hahaha. His acting was absolutely stellar. I admit, the accents were thick and the surround sound was echo-y, so I had a little trouble understanding some of the lines, but he was fantastic. I'd read so much about what the leads thought of this part, and I have to say, he managed to hide any trepidation while on screen. I believed it. That's all I can ask of an actor.
Heath Ledger apparently claimed he did the role because, after three box office flops in a row, he didn't have anything to lose. Again, he left that sentiment at the door. Thank God. I thought "Ennis" was the more complicated character here. The one who had a harder time admitting to himself he wanted a man romantically. He was the one who desperately needed a wife and children to submerse himself in. Of course, the discovery of why he had that attitude was so well-played -- by Ang Lee, most notably.
Of course, the bitter irony there is the ending to the film. I was shocked, and I certainly didn't get to leave the theatre beaming with a smile... But I think I got a lot more from it. I think, because I was forced to do some soul searching and find my own happy ending, I was able to still love this film with the intensity I do. It was absolutely unforgettable...
While I know that for every 2 good gay-themed movies we get in the next few years, there will be 4 crappy ones and a bucket-load of unwatchable comedies, I welcome them into the world. It's high time "gay" becomes overused, and therefore ineffective as an insult, and generally accepted. And there's always that side of me that is a little biased and will watch anything with a gay person in it... but maybe that's just more about wanting it in my life, because it hasn't been there yet.
You must see Brokeback Mountain. It's an incredible love story, so powerful I can't stop flashing to it in my mind.