Interesting but disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (7 March 2006)

In the end Brokeback is a film with a hole where it's heart should be. It purports to be a gay love story but it is in truth not about love but denial. There is no reason for the two characters to start their gay relationship, but once started there is no truth in the way that it is played out. That Jack Twist turns into a thrill seeker and that Ennis becomes more taciturn, if that is possible, gives an even more muddied view of the pair. The treatment by the men of their respective wives is stereotypical and the wives only seem to be there to give a reason for the men to be apart. It's interesting that IMDb's movie of the day "The Hired Hand" takes as its starting premise the association of two cowboys drifting through the west taking jobs as they come without any suggestion of homosexuality. Far from being robbed of the Best Picture Oscar it should never have been there in the first place. Nothing about the story convinces, especially not that moustache.