Brave film-making, but over-hyped

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2006)

I guess there had been enough built up about Brokeback Mountain as a great expression of the purity of love that I was really thinking "Best Picture" material as I went in to see it. So, my expectations were high: they weren't met.
For one thing, the plot seems to get lost about 3/4 of the way through the film. Especially once Jack is gone, I began thinking that the plot had lost its focus, and I was just waiting for the ending. The performances are worthwhile though, especially Ledger who seems to arrive already burdened or repressed even as the film just starts. Actually, it reminded me of Billy Bob Thornton's performance in Sling Blade, and suddenly I remembered how excellently Ledger had played Thornton's son in "Monster's Ball."
However, the thing about Brokeback Mountain is it's not a great film: it's a well-made film about a subject almost no one is willing to tackle, men on the DL. Men carrying on homosexual affairs within the confines of marriage and family, not because they want to, but because they believe society's reaction to the truth would be so brutal that they'd be in fear for their lives.
This was the 60s-70s, and to some degree, the fears these men have could still exist today. I wonder how much things have changed; are cases like Matthew Shepard rare anomalies or are they the kind of thing that could happen to many men who came out openly and refused the confines of marriage?
I read one Christian site review that said the film was artistically made but still seemed to condone these men's choosing of homosexual relations, which they see as sinful. Still, it is what comes naturally to them, and as long as they hurt no one else in the process and mutually consent, then what is the harm? Why persecute them?
In the end, the film is at times shocking, at times challenging, but overall more of a slow character study. Ledger is worth bearing with, seeming to always have layers to pull back of anger and passion. The film becomes remarkable not as a great work, but as a well-done film about a very difficult subject. ***.5