Saturday, January 07, 2006

Brokeback Mountain

My daughter and I just got home from seeing Brokeback Mountain.

Now there is a portrayal of human spirituality. The capriciousness of joy, the anguish of longing, the vastness of loss.


As Jack and Ennis struggle with what is not to be, I kept thinking of my recently widowed, after not quite four years of marriage, father, saying over Christmas, "I'm so grateful that I have opened myself up to the things I have over the past few years." And then I sat there and cried quietly through the entire last fifteen minutes. The expanse of grief is just what grief is: huge.

This movie could change lives, at least for those of us who always settle, always compromise.

The images of the splendor of the Rockies and the rivers of woolies aren't bad, either.

(And this movie makes that tv show last night look just plain silly.)

10 comments:

Lisa :-] said...

...and some dumb-ass movie theater in Utah refused to show it.

sunflowerkat said...

I've been wanting to see it. But if it's HUGE with grief...I'd better hold off for now.

Virginia said...

I was wondering if it was a good movie to see, however not sure if an overload of grief is what we want right now. Was it too much?

Peace, Virginia

Gannet Girl said...

It is absolutely a beautiful movie in every sense of the word.

But there is a horrific and violent act ( and another one in flashback), and in its wake it becomes apparent that everyone in these men's lives knew what they thought they were concealing, and that many lives -- parents, wives, children -- were ruined by their inability to be whom they were.

Anonymous said...

Brokeback Mountain doesn't seem to be playing in the theaters here in Evansville. I have no idea if it just hasn't opened yet or if the local theaters have chosen not to show it. I'm not sure if I'll go see it or not. I generally avoid movies with graphic violence. I simply can't watch it. I find it much too disturbing.

Anonymous said...

I thought this was a great movie - and I'm glad you agree, Robin. Strangely enough, my recent post (the one I just finished) consists of a series of movie reviews, and this is at the top. I think the larger message is not so much that being gay shouldn't be a regarded as a sin, although that is clearly very important. Rather the movie is telling us what enormous pain can be inflicted on human beings by narrow societal rules, by the arbitrary decisions of arrogant people who happen to find themselves with power over others.

Thanks for writing about it.

Vicky
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vxv789/

Paul said...

I haven't seen it, but I read it in Close Range a few years ago. I'm wondering about the violent act. Was it tire irons? the story makes you guess.

betty said...

I want to see this; thank you for your thoughts about it.

betty

Anonymous said...

I really want to see this movie but may have to go by myself. Sad but true - dh and my movie friends said they weren't interested. I had to see "Rent" by myself.

I'm not sure I want to know the reasons. Could they all be that homophobic?

Anonymous said...

Kathryn,

Why don't you ask your friends why they won't see it with you? If its due to homophobia, they might have a lesson to learn. Otherwise, they don't sound like very good friends to me.