Disappointed

Rating: 6/10 (28 December 2005)

This was a highly disappointing film. As a gay man, I thought I finally would be able to see true affection between two men on screen. But, we hardly see any affection between the two leads. We see sex on Brokeback Mountain. But, sex is not affection, is not love. And when the Heath and Jake meet a couple times a year they might as well be fishing buddies. Again, we see hardly any affection. I was not touched by the ending because I feel that the relationship between the two leads was never fully developed. I never really felt they were in love. If they truly were, Heath would have moved in with Jake or at least lived near him after Ennis got divorced.
The affection between Ennis and his wife is more developed than between Heath and Jake's characters. I felt sorry for Ennis's wife. Everyone go hurt, Ennis' wife and Jake's character, because Ennis couldn't accept that he is gay. He couldn't grow to accept himself and have the courage to risk everything to have what he wanted. Many gay men take this risk. I did. Why can't these characters?
This is a movie about people being stuck, not taking changes. So, they end up alone and everyone gets hurt. No one grew as a character in this movie. No one really took risks. I wanted to see a movie where people took risks and fought against the society that keeps them from having what they want. This is not the movie. I also wanted to see a movie where a character came to accept his homosexuality. This is not the movie.
Highly disappointing.