Was it really worth all the fuss?

Rating: 5/10 (25 February 2006)

My greivance's with the movie were not many, however, the fact that so much fuss was made over this film really didn't do it any favors. First of all I thought it was a mediocre film. Solid rental. That is of course if you can stand Ang Lee movies, which involve WAY too many wide angle shots of people staring at each other with no dialog (see: 'The Hulk', and 'Sense & Sensibility').
My biggest grief with this film is the way it was advertised. Another complaint is with the tag line: Love is a force of nature. No argument here, but with all the infidelity in this movie I can't help but wonder what message this film is really trying to send. To me it's a film more against the institution of marriage than it is about two men in love.
Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) first meet each other in the early summer of 1963 in a town called Riverton, Wyoming. They get work as sheppard's for a man (played by Randy Quaid) on Brokeback Mountain. There is obviously an interest these two men have in one another, but the first part of this movie is somewhat troubling. They have sex with each other, but it was more like a prison thing than anything else. These two guys had been stuck up on this mountain for three months with only the company of each other. The sex scene was anything but romantic, and the two have this conversation afterward's which they agree that they're both "...not queer".
Summer ends, Ennis gets married, and Jack gets work as a rodeo bull rider. Ennis and his new wife stay in Wyoming, and Jack ends up in Texas where he marries Laureen (Anne Hathaway). Cut to 1967 and Ennis gets a postcard from Jack. Jack drives up to Wyoming to see Ennis and when they see each other (for the first time in four years) they embrace and kiss, but again, in my mind it seems forced. Anyway, Ennis' wife sees it from the door of their apartment but says nothing. Under the guise of going fishing for the weekend Jack and Ennis go back up to Brokeback Mountain to be together for a few days. They continue to do this a few weekends out of the year over the next 20 years.
Here is where my main problem with the film comes in. Both men are cheating on their wives. Not only is Ennis cheating on his wife but he's taking to treating her like dirt. Many times it looked as though he was going to hit her. He also pays little attention to his daughters and the two eventually get divorced. Jack on the other hand is not quite at odds with his wife, but more with her father. Jack comes from poor stock, and his wife is the daughter of a man who sells heavy duty farm equipment. Adding a class dilemma that Hollywood seems to like to do. Jack is shown to be a pretty good dad, but he tells Ennis that his marriage "could be done over the phone". So we have two failed marriages and an affair in between. I realize that this is not uncommon in America, but should it be looked upon as something acceptable? If you're unhappy in a marriage then get out! Get divorced, why would you go through the ritual and then cheat? But get this, not ONLY is Jack cheating on his wife with Ennis, he's cheating on Ennis with another man! There is also another scene that bothered me. After Ennis gets divorced, Jack comes up to see him. But Ennis can't get away because he has the kids that week. So Jack drives all the way back to Texas but doesn't stop there. He goes to Mexico and sees a male prostitute. You see, this is why I'm protesting the tag line: Love is a force of nature. It should read "Lust is an adversary of the weak-willed".
I feel now I should make a disclaimer. If you're reading this, and you're gay, I don't care. Given the marriage statistic, and the fact that many people lose half of their stuff in divorce litigation, I'm not quite sure why gay people really want to get married. HOWEVER, I believe they should have the right to do so if they wish. But if you're going to do it,stick with it! And if you're not ready to put in the effort, don't commit. Gay or straight, if you enter into a relationship, make the effort to be faithful to one another. It's really no wonder we have all these drugs to treat depression, with the amount of people being betrayed by lovers, girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives, whatever; should we really be surprised that nobody trusts each other anymore? I think this movie was over-rated. But if you read all the reviews on IMDb, almost everyone is sucking up to this film. Honestly I think they're doing it because it's the politically correct thing to do. "Look at me, I can't be a gay basher because I loved Brokeback Mountain!!!" Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are plenty of people who genuinely loved this film. I'm not one of them. I say, mediocre film, unworthy of the hype and the controversy surrounding it. Can't we just get over the whole gay thing? Bottom Line, I give this movie a 5 out of 10.