Brokeback Mountain - 7th & 11th January 2006

First of all I cannot believe this did not win Best Picture at the Oscars. As a film it was a thousand times better than Crash, which I found confused and irritating.

Despite all the hype & controversy, Brokeback Mountain is not a "gay cowboy" film, it is a love story in its purest sense, one that was beautifully written, acted & shot; I think this will remain one of my favourite films of the year.

I went to go and see this twice and very almost cried both times. The only reason I managed to stop myself was that if I'd have started, I would have been blubbing all the way home on the train. This was especially the case during the second viewing, when I knew what was going to happen, and was all the more aware of the overwhelming sense of despair that is present throughout the film.

For it is not only the film's (perhaps inevitable) conclusion that is so tear-inducing. From the moment the cowboys are forced to leave the peaceful idyll of Brokeback Mountain and begin to lead "normal" lives, away from each other, there is an ever-growing sense of despair and injustice. All the time they spend trapped within the confines of family, work, normal society; is time they are spending away from each other in unhappiness. Even the time on the mountain is tinged with sadness: the ephemeral nature of their happiness is all too apparent. You know that it will not and cannot last forever.

This is why Brokeback Mountain is not a "gay" film. It is a story of two people struggling against society's (and their own) pre-conceptions. The path of true love... and all that. It's important that the two cowboys are very much your typical, macho cowboys and not presented in the least as effeminate or camp, which would have rendered the movie farcical.

This love that dare not speak its name (or even be mumbled by Heath Ledger) was shown to be pure and natural, much more so than the artificial and sterile "civilised" society it contrasts with. Just compare the breath-takingly beautiful shots of the mountains whenever the two cowboys are together, with the claustrophobic, dreary and plain ugly shots of the towns and houses where the two cowboys live. The mountain's colours are so bright and sharp whereas the tones used for the scenes of civilised society are either dull sepia or horribly garish. Take, for example, the final scene (I think) with Heath in his tiny, dirty brown caravan. Framed in the window are the beautifully green mountains against a clear blue sky, perhaps representing hope for the future, and a lovely theme on which to end the film.

I think it is a sign of the moving and provocative nature of the film that even thinking about this it, several days later, sat in work, brought a tear to my eye.

I understand that it may seem a little slow in parts and it is only for this reason it doesn't score higher. My first film of the year gets 8.5.