Manipulative And Dire Despite Some Strengths

Rating: 6/10 (8 April 2007)

This caused a commotion several months before it had even hit cinemas " John Wayne would be spinning in his grave at the very thought of this movie " whined one right wing critic who failed to point out that The Duke once starred in an early Western called RIDE HIM COWBOY which despite the title had absolutely nothing to do with this movie . As it hit cinemas and more and more people saw it people on the other end of the political spectrum started to lavish praise on it and used adjectives like " Groundbreaking " " courageous " " A masterwork " and " revolutionary film making " and started to pick up every film award until the Oscars where the Oscar for best film went to CRASH which had a great number of critics and commentators screaming that this was the greatest travesty in Academy Award history . After finally getting to see both movies I have to say BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN didn't deserve many of the film awards it did receive never mind the ones it didn't
I have to say this is highly manipulative film making . I don't have a problem with its theme of two macho cowboys falling in love with each other but I do have a problem of the way they suddenly just find themselves falling into a sexual relationship . Is this a common occurrence in real life where people suddenly enter a same sex relationship because it seemed like a good idea at the time ? The whole set up seemed far too sudden to be credible to me but I guess if you're ultra liberal you'll just have to go along with it same as when their relationship is established you have to empathize with the characters of Del Mar and Twist instead of other characters . I guess their employer is in the wrong because he's concerned about the livestock and doesn't like what these two cowboys are getting up to during work hours or that there's something wrong with Alma when she finds out her husband is gay and is disgusted and shattered by this ? Hey you don't want anyone to accuse you of being a homophobic reactionary after all do you ? Are we to take the side of Del Mar and Twist simply because they are gay ? I think if the story had been slightly reconstructed so we see it from Alma's POV this would have been a far better movie since she's by far the most sympathetic character in the movie
If that had been the case then we'd certainly have had a more dramatic movie since we'd get scenes of Alma throwing things around the kitchen screaming " WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE A... A .... YOU MADE LOVE TO ME AND YOU NEVER ONCE TOLD ME YOU WERE A... A... I,M SO DISGUSTED I CAN'T EVEN SAY THAT WORD " because if there's one thing lacking in much of this movie it's drama . Instead of heart wrenching drama we're subjected to a couple of gay cowboys mumbling stuff which is difficult to hear because the sound mix is so bad and Ang Lee hasn't done his cause much good because there's a distinct lack of cross cuts which makes some scenes in particular and the film in general feel far longer than the just over two hours running length . This film feels far far longer than it really is and is often an ordeal to sit through
There are some plus points . Certainly the cinematography is excellent and the beautiful isolated landscape is captured so well I almost felt like rushing off to visit Wyoming if it hadn't left me with the impression that it's over run with gay cowboys , violent rednecks , trailer trash and sheep . And despite my criticism about the lack of incident or drama the ending is genuinely sad , certainly not as sad as many of the more liberal commentators have suggested but sad enough to give BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN a higher mark out of ten than I genuinely feel it deserves