Films That You Should Have Watched Yesterday - Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Straight, or Gay, I'll Love You Either Way: Opening Your Heart in the Wake of the Brokeback Legacy 

          Picture two men dressed, from hat to boots, in cowboy outfits. Paint a backdrop of still, lush green trees surrounding snow-topped mountains of majestic porpoise-grey that all stand spectacularly tall without obscuring the view of a royal blue sky or the pearl-white clouds above. Sprinkle the scene with the accessories of recently popped, shiny glass bottles of chilled beer in hand and fine, youthful, stainless steeds stationed with admirable obedience nearby and marvel at the sight of one specific flavour of pure pleasure heightened by an innocent relishing of the present moment, welcoming, with doors gracefully swung wide open, the light, cool breeze of the wind and the ceaseless but gentle roar of the dodger-blue rivers and streams forever flowing forwards, over and under hard, sharp and immovable rock formations of many intriguing shapes that do little more than provide necessary challenge by not quite discontinuing the water's flow. There was a time when such a vision warranted envy from even the most privileged citizens of worldwide society. That was until the vision and the way of life that it depicted became forever tainted at the very thought of a word that was intended only to establish a fictional location in Wyoming, USA, for a love story but ultimately also presented an opportunity for prejudice towards homosexuality to fester, resulting in one of the most frustrating illustrations of blissful ignorance, ecstatically fuelled with jokes rooted in terrible untruths regarding that love story's events and always refusing to accept its own inevitable diminishing, which would take place once reason finally prevailed over mocking fantasy and those concerned were persuaded to give the tale a chance. That word, known very well but understood barely a little, was Brokeback.

          In spite of the glowing, gold-scented knowledge that Brokeback Mountain was inspired by a remarkable short story by Annie Proulx, or that it was directed a Ang Lee, a film-maker who had already been hailed for leading a masterful adaptation of a famous literary creation, Sense and Sensibility, which testified to a love so strong that it effortlessly breached class barriers, the notion that another socially-charged barrier in the form of sexuality was being tackled caused a great deal of discomfort and controversy among audiences who clung, in many cases, to the fear of witnessing a 'tent scene' that had been grossly twisted by unkind rumours into a fantasy that fed off words and images of the most distasteful sort. Thus, occupied so completely by a false synopsis of the film's principle didactic and artistic intentions, audiences to this day have absolutely refused to watch the film, unwilling to hear reason that is supported by caches plentiful in credible sources of evidence, fit for the purpose of unbiased justification, for the proposal that Brokeback Mountain is, in truth, a love story of Shakespearean proportions. The American Cowboy Culture, one that so many thrive upon yanking from the horse by the neck with a rope repeatedly in order to expose the real practices behind the sermons claiming moral superiority on love, life and the vast landscape in between, is once again, with no apology offered or even conceived in advance of the bold endeavour, exposed to its supposedly well-intended but undeniably outdated and hypocritical core in a tale of forbidden love.

A Star That Will Never Grow Old - Heath Ledger's portrayal of Ennis Del Mar is tragically overshadowed by his Oscar-winning, breathtaking interpretation of The Joker in The Dark Knight. However, the phenomenal former role, in spite of being in comparison forgotten, ignored and prejudice-whipped by audiences who willingly surrender to corrupted images that revel in making a mockery of a love that is misunderstood but no less pure than the other, more familiar and socially respectable guises, grants an even greater degree of praise for the latter performance. The two characters in combination contrast so starkly, in facets ranging from tone of voice, to gait, to mannerisms, to principle sensibilities and most obviously aesthetics, that they consequently testify to Ledger's incredible versatility as an artist of the acting craft, long before and long after his poignant passing just over eight years ago.   

          The scenes of sexual intimacy so often infamously alluded to as the perilous, filthy terrain upon which the film gallops towards traumatising unsuspecting audiences serve only to support the assertion of the two protagonists, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, establishing a connection that once seemed impossible. Those scenes form part of an apparent end to soul-numbing loneliness and the acceleration of love to which all witnesses could fully comprehend, or at least, supported by cautious estimation, assert an awareness of, the fullest extent of its rapture, whether or not the personal experiences that heretofore informed them have involved someone of the same or the opposite sex. Even the seed of the film, the original short prose composition, gives cause for more graphic imagery than what is actually recorded on camera, by hinting at more aggressive, more vivid love scenes taking place in broad daylight. Such scenes are not brought to light in the film. Instead, the embraces each last barely three to five minutes in their entirety. Furthermore, in those spaces of time granted for such developments in the protagonists' relationship, limits are notably conservative in the degree of flesh exposed, or the instinctive pleasure-induced movements and melodies expressed by both characters. Never does the story linger for the intention of shock. Nor does the camera or the lighting ever provide a close up intended only to instil discomfort. There will always be somebody whose face might turn vermilion during the scenes in question, even if that anxiety is not at all rooted in homophobic prejudice either within or without. However, even the most traumatized viewers have every chance of remembering this film for more than a few brief physical encounters.

          Like many timeless love stories, the audience might recall from Brokeback Mountain the questionable moral decisions made in the pursuit of love and the surrender of that pursuit to fear. Fans of the source material will appreciate the use of key dialogue delivered with superb emotional depth and control. Hardcore movie nerds who have a tendency to latch onto their favourite building blocks of the final product and so will add, for instance, the music that takes full advantage of and in turn produces the best prominent employment of the guitar in the orchestra ever heard from a film score, to their stockpile of cinema memories to share with friends for many years hence. Acting, costume design, imagery of nature and so many other elements making up the movie rival one another in impressive quality, indicating that the sex scenes, while important for the story, do not define it. That reality has been true for a countless number of productions that have been made since Brokeback Mountain. Fewer than expected have appeared put off by often far more striking, intense homosexual love scenes in I Love You Philip Morris, Milk, Shame, Bruno, Blue is the Warmest Colour, Spartacus, Game of Thrones and Mr Robot, which are all examples that form a list not close at all to completion. In many of the examples but especially Brokeback Mountain the film is more about love. It is more about connection than what some might perceive as mindless acts of homosexual fornication. Looking back on the film over a decade after its release, Jake Gyllenhaal best summarised the public attitude towards the work as a whole by addressing the conversations around a famous line from the picture, highlighting that the significance of the movie is far greater than those who would quickly dismiss it on cruel grounds might admit. The line in focus was "I wish I knew how to quit you."

"That line has moved, it has been mocked, it has been everything in between, but I remember coming out of that scene, off that ridge of the hill and seeing a number of the the crew, some of whom didn't even know what the movie was about, crying. When I first read the line, I was like, What is that? Now I realize that anybody who has loved knows what that feels like." - Jake Gyllenhaal

The Angel's Right Hand - Jake Gyllenhaal won the BAFTA for the Best Supporting Actor category in 2006. Not uncommonly does the British equivalent to the Oscars, along with every other major award ceremony, such as the Golden Globe Awards, essentially appear to copy another awarding body by granting the same awards to the same artists, resulting, more often than perhaps desired by any respectable voting collective, in the ceremony concerned becoming a cheap imitation of the ultimate event - The Academy Awards. Here, on the other hand, was one of the few occasions, albeit such events have become more frequent in recent years in response to the ever-increasing quality of film-making on parade, where the BAFTAs didn't just copy the Oscars or, put more accurately, attempt to predict whom that Hollywood ceremony would crown the victors and respond accordingly, desperate not appear as the inferior judge of the best talent riding upon the saddles of nominations. Gyllenhaal took the opportunity presented by his acceptance speech to assert that "this movie means even more to me socially than it does artistically." There can be no greater proof, beyond, of course, watching the movie, that Brokeback Mountain is about far, far more than homosexual fornication between cowboys in one of nature's more secluded settings. In fact, the role of physical intimacy melts away like snow in a desert at the height of summer once the brutal repercussions of a doomed love, all of which unsurprisingly too relevant for audiences of all sexual orientations, are realised. The wings that allow this story to soar across the lands of utterly captivated attention are not propelled from without by the turbulent winds of mindless profanity, unrestrained nudity or a nasty demonization of the American Cowboy Culture but rather from within by a cry for equality for homosexuals in particular, as well as a celebration of love's unconditional, magical and in turn life-affirming quality for all. Thus, Brokeback Mountain rides among the finest feature-length productions illustrating the power of film for tackling and helping to change outdated but unfortunately entrenched social attitudes for the better.     

          There remain individuals determined not to watch Brokeback Mountain, staying all but clueless concerning what the movie is about. On the other hand, more people are persuaded every year to decide upon expanding their horizons, offering their full engagement for roughly two hours in order to give the film sufficient opportunity for a fair consideration. While the result may, but truly does not have to, be the feature attaining another fan, the outcome could be, at the very least, an admission in the aftermath from the viewer of a failure to understand what all of the fuss was about. One wonders, if attitudes towards homosexuality were different even today, if Brokeback Mountain might have made an impression, upon more casual audiences especially, as great as Titanic achieved, not least for its unreserved revelations of the harsh treatment of homosexuals and the furious snubbing of love occurring in just one part of the world, leaving to the imagination what on earth is going on everywhere else, for as it has been plainly but nonetheless eloquently put in the television series, Penny Dreadful, "whatever you can imagine, far worse is possible." Equally, though, far better burns within the human heart with just as much plausibility, if not more so than its darker, depressing alternative. Thus, beyond the celebration of pure, unconditional and undying love, Brokeback Mountain holds audiences securely upon its saddle as a story about standing up for yourself. One that lives on, for it has not too long ago been announced that a theatrical adaptation is planned for London's West End, which will undoubtedly attract a great deal of speculation over how attitudes towards such a production might have changed, for critics will rightly be expecting high quality drama but they might hopefully be less likely to consider the theme of homosexuality as detrimental to that ambition. In the meantime, looking back as far as the première screening of the film in 2005 and recounting the major steps towards equality for the LGBT Rights Moment, including the United States House of Representatives approving a bill that ensured equal rights in the workplace for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in 2007, followed eventually by Barak Obama becoming the first sitting president of the United States to support marriage for gay and lesbian couples in May 2012, Brokeback Mountain clearly achieved not just critical and financial success but also a brave exposure of homophobia, which aided in the prompting of positive political action, particularly against those often hidden illustrations of the sickness present in individuals hitching a ride on the band wagon simply to impress their friends, easily pretending to support LGBT equality on social media but still unwilling to even watch a movie that tells a love story involving homosexuals, deliberately chaining their minds to gross homophobic preconceptions that in all cases are miles away from the town of reality. In the end, finally opening one's eyes and watching the film might yet result in the obtaining of yet another movie setting to associate with romantic refuge and the power of love, joining a poignant collection that features locations like Paris, Rome, and Casablanca, regardless of its, by just comparison, ultimately fictional existence. That location, marked by the clout of cinema for eternity upon the collective psyche of society, albeit yet to be discovered and explored by so many, is Brokeback Mountain.