This movie is wonderful. And there are some important reasons.

Rating: 10/10 (9 January 2006)

This is an amazing film for many reasons, most of them mentioned by the hundreds of people who have already posted reviews. It is a perfect adaptation of an amazing, devastating story, magnificently scored and directed, superbly acted by all members of the cast, and haunting, haunting, haunting. I, like so many, cannot get Jack and Ennis out of my mind. But there are a couple of things that I'm compelled to say here.
First, so many people are saying "this isn't a gay cowboy movie, it's a universal love story that anyone can relate to." Well, this comment, while true in some sense, misses the point: yes, it's a story that transcends its particulars, but can we ask ourselves why it's surprising that a story about two gay cowboys (which it is) could be an example of universal love? Why can a story about a couple of rich straight kids (Romeo and Juliet) touch universal themes, and gay love not? Is it because people don't have the imagination to understand the simple fact that (poor, rural) gay people are human, and so their stories have human dimensions and can embody universal human themes? This story IS a story about gay cowboys, AND a universal story of lost, thwarted, impossible love. Get it? Second, although I'm very glad that people noticed that the film is about love, so many seem to have missed that it is also a film about homophobia and the tremendous damage that it did to every single character: from Jack and Ennis (obviously) to their wives and children (just as obviously) but also to Jack's parents, and Ennis' waitress friend. While taking the 9-year old Ennis to see the societally-induced results of gay love in Wyoming may have saved his life ("this thing grabs ahold of us at the wrong place, the wrong time, and we're dead"), at what terrible, terrible cost? Thirdly, there seems to be among some a misconception that Jack seduced (one comment said "raped") Ennis. Well, when Jack made his move, Ennis had lots of options, from kicking him out of the tent, to socking him in the nose, or just saying no. Instead he rolls Jack over and goes after him ferociously. Of course it's rough; these guys haven't known anything but rough their whole lives. All that aside, has everyone forgotten what it was like to be 19 and not understand or even know what kind of power was grabbing ahold of you? What it was like to start shaking simply because you could *smell* someone? Or feel like the touch of your love had taken you to heaven? Shame, shame, silly people.
In any case, I'm so grateful for this movie I can't really express it. It's going to help thousands of gay men come to terms with the impossible, lost loves we had as youngsters and heal from some of the pain and fear that this truly violent and sick society has filled us with. It's also helping thousands of straight folks "get it" in a new way, not just understanding that gay people are human, but seeing, feeling and dreaming it, through the magic of this near-perfect film. Thanks to everyone who made it.