the insight of a bad school essay

Rating: 1/10 (20 August 2009)

This film has to be a contender for least deserving Best Picture winner of all time. If only those cowboys in Brokeback Mountain hadn't been so, well, gay...
It tackles the issue of racism in American society with all the insight of a bad high-school essay. Some whites are prejudiced against blacks and think they're all criminals, but then some really are criminals. And some blacks are prejudiced against whites. But then some whites aren't very nice. etc. etc. When the film finished with an incidence of racism between a Latino and a black character, I realised that deep down, inside of us, we really are all the same. Beautiful.
As ever for a Hollywood movie, it can't conceive of political issues outside of the personal. Thus, the racism of Mat Dillon's cop is explained in terms of his own father's experience rather than as an expression of any kind of structural prejudice in American society.
One can only imagine the level of self-congratulation which must have been felt by all those involved. That's racism sorted. Now how about a nice movie showing how much we care about those gays? Just mind that there's no sex between men though. That really kills your Oscar chances.