Brokeback Mountain finally came around on our Netflix cue so we figured it was high time to see what all the fuss was about with this film. In brief, I could have done without the boobies but the film itself was very well done. The acting was phenomenal, and the story itself wrenched my heart, especially the ending scene.
When I watch a movie, especially one that has been well written and well filmed, I find that I put myself in the shoes of the characters and feel what they’re feeling. Some say this is empathy or sympathy (I honestly can’t remember which is which) and it’s why I’m such a good minister. While watching this film I felt the pain that Ennis Del Mar felt; I felt the confusion, betrayal and bitterness that his wife Alma felt; and I felt the yearning for something unreachable that Jack Twist was going through.
The fact of the matter is this story isn’t just about homosexuality. Homosexuality was the veneer. On a much deeper level, Brokeback Mountain is about social norms, cultural expectations, and how each of us bend (break?) our lives to fit into them. Perhaps that’s why this story wrenched my heart like it did. I think we all at some point yearn for something we can’t have. We all are confused about what, exactly, we want or need. And we all feel betrayed by people close to us, people we thought we knew.
