A very good depiction of how individuals are being eradicated by society.

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2006)

You almost can't believe it when you hear it for the first time. Somebody made a gay western with two mainstream Hollywood actors in it. First you think they've gone nuts. That it's probably going to end their careers faster than a first-rate video game stinker, ala Street Fighter. I guess at some point anybody that approximately knew what the film was about either thought it'll get bashed and laughed at, or that it'll be somehow ignored and quickly forgotten by the general audience. Meaining that it's just going to be another mediocre socio-drama. Now that the word 'Brokeback' is (so I read) the most frequently said and searched word when it comes to movies of 2005, the last thesis seems to be just plain old dumb. Meaning that the movie wasn't by any chance ignored by the general audience, nor forgotten by that matter.
No, it was more or less ignored by a well-known, some would say the most credible institution in the world of motion pictures. At least on the points I find to be most deserving. Brokeback Mountain, really is something new in many viewpoints. It's hardly the second Ang Lee's film I've seen so far. The first one was The Ice Storm. He really seems to have many talent in the point of depicting the microcosms of society. Families and individuals.
This time he sends us to the middle of nowhere to confront us with one of the most disagreeable subjects. In the middle he puts two ordinary, lower-middle class men who just want to make some decent money. Lonely, wistful and kind of bored they become very close and one night they do something for which they both claim to be just a 'one-shot thing'. After their painful split, they go on with their lives as if nothing happened. All this time they feel forced by society and obliged by their families to hide an important part of their love-lives. So they do. And this is what the movie is best at. In showing how people want something so badly and yet they hate it and reject it because they want to look 'normal' in front of everybody. They're well aware that they most likely wont receive a shred of understanding from anyone.
'Brokeback' can become a hated and misunderstood film if watched under the influence of prejudice. A part of the male audience will feel very unsettled and provoked by the hair-splitting depiction of the two 'family men'. So before seeing it, 'preparing' yourself wouldn't be such a bad idea. You will enjoy it and even understand it a lot more if you try to be a bit open-minded. To me it's not a 'gay movie'. It's a vibrant statement about a society that lauds ideals and who's individuals are completely unwilling to except something they are unable to determine. Yes it's a movie for all of us and about all of us cowards.
........ +4/5 ........