Political views surrounding this "Seventh Art"

Rating: 8/10 (7 February 2006)

I am not a native English speaker. So sorry for my bad English. I am trying to see this as a person looking from outside of the American culture.
Writing a review about this movie is very difficult. And the difficulty seems to be only based on the controversy about the story of the movie. So I am sorry if I am going to write about this controversy more in this review. I felt that many of the reviews written are biased because of it.
In one way I think this movie is making history: It is just amazing how politicians and activist now a day take advantage of it, even its movie review pages. Now that this movie is popular everyone wants to gain from it. Some consciously and some unconsciously. In most of the countries movie is considered as an art along with its entertaining values. It has been referred to as "the seventh art". This movie is also a work of art. Though its entertaining value is not as prominent as its artistry.
The right wing says that Hollywood is evil and homosexual and the left wing says that the right is homophobe. And in a way I think both are recruiting people towards their wing by LABELING!! The protagonists in this movie are only human. Not gay not evil. They are two lonely men.
Everyone now a day is playing the smart guy, as if there was a revelation and they found out about themselves. They refer to homosexuality even as "coming out" as if it is a kind of divine revelation!!! They say I am gay!! Some say I am Christian!! And it is amazing that people actually identify themselves with these stigmas. Believe me in many cultures people are not categorized as homo, hetero or bi sexual. The act might be categorized. But the person is not. Even in many religions which are considered fundamentalist now a day you are referred only to as a "believer" and no other name. "The words "homosexual" and "heterosexual", according to the Oxford English Dictionary, did not even exist in the English language before 1900, but now hang heavily and oppressively over all of the American culture."
With all the discussions about Islamic fundamentalism you sometimes wonder if fundamentalism is emerging in everything. Do we now have "Gay fundamentalism" along with "Christian fundamentalism"?
Brokeback Mountain is an art and art does not have any boundaries. And does not conform to political views. This movie is a form of art with whatever message that gives us. For an art to be appreciated one also must have the ability for appreciation and certain amount of knowledge. Like for me it was really hard to appreciate English poetry. Because my knowledge of English language was not enough. Though the meanings are universal to everyone who is called a human being. But I see that a group is steeling the movie for promoting their agenda and another group is condemning it again to promote their agenda. This is a betrayal of the art.
Annie Proulx, Ange Lee, the actors the musician and every one are artists depicting something. This should be appreciated for the arts sake regardless of the message. In "Natural born killer" the artist was depicting homicide. Obviously this is not for children who can not appreciate it or for the uneducated. This is why I think many consider this movie boring and slow or pointless. Artists in Brokeback mountain show humanly traits like loneliness, longing intimacy, struggle with life, choices and the tragic happenings due to them their life.
I am going to quote from Annie Proulx original story to show how artfully she depicts it:
..."What Jack remembered and craved in a way he could neither help nor understand was the time that distant summer on Brokeback when Ennis had come up behind him and pulled him close, the silent embrace satisfying some shared and sexless hunger. They had stood that way for a long time in front of the fire, its burning tossing ruddy chunks of light, the shadow of their bodies a single column against the rock. The minutes ticked by from the round watch in Ennis's pocket, from the sticks in the fire settling into coals. Stars bit through the wavy heat layers above the fire. Ennis's breath came slow and quiet, he hummed, rocked a little in the sparklight and Jack leaned against the steady heartbeat, the vibrations of the humming like faint electricity and, standing, he fell into sleep that was not sleep but something else drowsy and tranced until Ennis, dredging up a rusty but still useable phrase from the childhood time before his mother died, said, "Time to hit the hay, cowboy. I got a go. Come on, you're sleepin on your feet like a horse," and gave Jack a shake, a push, and went off in the darkness. Jack heard his spurs tremble as he mounted, the words "see you tomorrow," and the horse's shuddering snort, grind of hoof on stone."
This is neither gay nor evil. She artfully depicts the peace Jake has when he is with Ennis through sexless human intimacy. And Ange Lee and the actors act out this scene beautifully.
After the golden age of American cinema was finished Hollywood no longer made movies about people. With this movie I think the trend is going to change back.