One gay, anti-gay movie

Rating: 8/10 (28 June 2007)

Heath Ledger, as Ennis, is really on fire in this movie. Reviving the role of the romantic leading man. He, truly, becomes a sex symbol in Brokeback Mountain, and in his own way, with his warm relationship with his daughter, a symbol of how to become a good father. If anything 'Brokeback' is the promotion of hetero sexuality. Ledger is like a very cute, very hard working, very sexy Clint Eastwood.
Ledger is really amazing and Brokeback is a beautifully filmed movie. It is also patently anti-gay. From the first words spoken in the film. . . "You pair of deuces lookin' for work, I suggest you get your scrawny asses in here pronto", to the final credits.
The first scene, I think, where I kind of noticed there was an anti-gay theme going on in the background (I was mostly just watching and enjoying the film), was when Ennis and Jack are embracing, and then the film quickly, purposefully, cuts back to showing their wives and children back at home.
Late in the film, Ennis says, lost in thought, ". . . Up on Brokeback mountain", and I realized, he's not referring to the mountain. . . he's referring to their relationship. As he said the words, and I realized what he was really talking about, I kind of felt bad for them, shame for them, perhaps I was, amused, by them. . .
When we see Jack with his new boyfriend. . . there's really no indication the two are together, yet, I just knew what the deal was. While I may have found this realization to be amusing, too, one reviewer observed, there was some actual laughter among the young audience (particularly at the fooled wives). No one was laughing at the end.
During Thanksgiving, Jack, his wife and their kids, and Jack's mother and father in-law, are all at the kitchen table. Jacks father in-law's standing up and carving the Turkey. Jack turns off the ball-game playing on TV in the next room. His father in-law makes a comment then turns the game back on. Jack gets up and turns it off again. When his father in law goes to turn the game back on, Jack yells something like, "Sit down you old Jerk!", and he finds himself, without realizing it, standing over the Turkey beginning the chore. Jack has become the man of the house. This is the point in the movie the audience is expected to cheer.
When Jack died. . . Was he really killed by accident, by the rim of a car tire, or was he beaten to death, like the vision that appeared throughout the movie, for being gay? I believe he did die in the accident, and the accident sounded unpleasant, not something that I would want to see happen to anyone. But I agree with other reviewers who say what really happened is left open to interpretation. In fact, near the end, for just a moment, I couldn't believe what I was watching. . . Is the film encouraging us to violence here? It was definitely open to interpretation. For just a moment, I couldn't believe my eyes. . .
If this, is, what the film is suggesting we think about. . . it makes me wonder. . . what kind of other crazy things might people be walking around thinking every day? What else might people be thinking, but not saying?
Frantz Fanon observes, "There comes a time when silence becomes dishonesty."
To tell the truth, I didn't know what I was watching there near the end, I knew a good movie. It wasn't until the giant letters, 'Directed by Ang Lee' cut into the film, that I did know. When the large, words, Directed by Ang Lee, formed, I knew I just watched the best anti-gay movie ever made.
This is how I wanted to end the 'review'. It's a good ending, I think. And that's exactly what 'Brokeback' is, very skillful anti-gay propaganda. Or perhaps the promotion of 'traditional values'. Brokeback, could have easily been just another film using reverse psychology. A silly, misogynistic film, an obvious parody of scenes we've all seen before. Having Jack and Ennis overcoming prejudice and the evil townsfolk in the film, or, showing Jack and Ennis as constantly the victims of society, but, if the film was a parody, I don't think the audience would have enjoyed it near as much. If anything the film, very nearly, does the opposite.
In ultimately giving dignity to Jack and Ennis, Brokeback Mountain is a celebration of humanity. In giving dignity to Jack and Ennis, it opens the door to all of us being treated with dignify. Brokeback Mountain does it's best to celebrate the worth we each have in all of us. The worth that's shared by all of us. In celebrating our dignity, it's the best pro-gay/anti-gay movie I've ever seen. Or should I say - the best "anti-gay, pro gays", movie, ever.
Well, 'The Band Played On' was pretty good too.