Not Just Gay Cowboys..a Laughing Audience too.

Rating: Null/10 (16 January 2006)

Although that is, of course, what's got all the attention, this is very much more than a story about two gay cowboys. This is a story about unfulfilled and frustrated lives in general. And it's also quite a stark appraisal of hidden rural poverty, because if there's one thing most of the characters apparently share in this look at 1960s Wyoming, it's lives defined largely by their poverty, in contrast to the much more affluent Texan characters. It's a tragic story, beautifully filmed, perfectly scripted and wonderfully acted with a good soundtrack. Heath Ledger (Ennis Del Mar) gives a terrific performance as a gruff guy living a life of constant frustration and suppressed anger and passion, torn between what he wants to do and what society expects. I can forgive him the mumbling, which meant a few of the words were lost, because somehow you still knew what he was saying. Jake Gyllenhaal (Jack Twist) is equally good in a slightly smaller role, and the supporting cast members are all perfect. I loved this movie, and everything that can possibly be said about it has already been said on this web site and at many other sources, so what I'd really like to assess is the rather strange reaction of the audience with whom I shared the viewing experience.
I saw this movie in an art house cinema in an ultra liberal, west coast, university town, amongst a largely young audience, many of whom I suspect were local students. The show was sold out. This was an audience ready and primed to embrace everything this movie stood for. At one of the most tragic parts of the movie, when Ennis Del Mar's young, unsuspecting, wife first discovers that her husband is attracted to other men, (she sees him furtively kissing Jack), a large proportion of the audience burst out laughing. I sat in utter astonishment as the kids around me chortled and guffawed, apparently thoroughly entertained at the idea that this poor woman's life was falling apart. It could have been a sitcom, judging by their reaction, with wifey saying "Oh gosh! Silly me! Fancy me not realizing dear ol' Ennis is gay!" As we watched this woman's confusion and distress unfold on screen, they laughed! Many times. In truly inappropriate places. As she checked out his unused fishing gear, to see if her worst fears were confirmed, as she eventually confronted him, they laughed.
I've puzzled about this reaction ever since. Have we really come so far in 40 years that kids can't imagine a world in which homosexuality was not just dangerous but illegal, and now they think it's some kind of joke that many people hid it within marriage? And if we have come that far, is it a good thing or a bad thing? Have they really no idea how horribly innocent women were back then (my mother's generation  I remember it well)? Are their senses so dulled by the over stimulation of modern life that they have lost the ability to empathize with other people's personal pain and tragedy, even when it's so well presented to them? I was astonished by the laughter, and a little disturbed. Fortunately, as the movie progressed, they "got it", finally seeming to appreciate that this was indeed a tragedy, of Shakespearean proportions, not a fall-about comedy. They were silent by the end, and, I hope, moved.