I'm not exactly sure when our country became so damn homophobic, especially with how popular it has become to be gay or lesbian these days. I can't talk to a group at a bar without one of them being homosexual. This is a huge sign of the times and the trend of today's age. I'm sure that there are many who don't agree with it, including the bible wranglers, but it's definitely not going away. Homosexuality has become something that is so ingrained in our culture now and it's always been here, even in earlier times. In fact, in the Roman Empire, it was popular for married men to take on boy lovers. Don't believe it? Look it up! It was a sign of power for those men. Sure it's not glorified in literature, it's not glorified in popular history, but since when do we truly glorify things that go against the church? We don't, and that's how we lose sight of our own history and growth as a civilization.

But even with our increasing acceptance of the homosexual world, sometimes something happens that truly blows everyone away. We have shows on television such as Will and Grace that glorify the gay world, but for some reason, it was a huge surprise when a gay movie hit the big screen. Was it because it involved two cowboys? We all know how the saying goes about Texas. There are only two things that come from Texas... so why is it such a surprise?

Although the large majority of my friends fought seeing this movie, because it was gay, and most that did see it would never admit to it... I not only saw it, but I bought the movie. A movie with that much critical acclaim and that much discussion, couldn't possibly be a bad thing to have in my collection. That would make it a huge controversial piece of history, and I love controversy and I love history, so daddy bring it the hell on!

I bought Brokeback Mountain earlier this year as part of my 'need to modernize my DVD collection initiative". My roommate and I decided one night to sit down and tackle the movie. We wanted to see what all the talk was all about, and what everyone was freaking out about. We weren't going to bring over a bunch of friends for a huge premiere, but we did want to see it, and we weren't scared of it, so why not.

The Cast

Heath Ledger .... Ennis Del Mar

Jake Gyllenhaal .... Jack Twist

Randy Quaid .... Joe Aguirre
Valerie Planche .... Waitress
David Trimble .... Basque
Victor Reyes .... Chilean Sheepherder #1
Lachlan Mackintosh .... Chilean Sheepherder #2

Michelle Williams .... Alma

Larry Reese .... Jolly Minister
Marty Antonini .... Timmy
Tom Carey .... Rodeo Clown
Dan McDougall .... Bartender #1
Don Bland .... Biker #1

Steven Cree Molison .... Biker #2

Anne Hathaway .... Lureen Newsome

The Plot
In order to keep from ruining the movie, I will give only minimal information about the movie in order to preserve it's integrity, as I always do. If you are looking for a more in depth review that covers every aspect of the movie, so that you can live vicariously through the reviewer, this is not your review... so move along little donkey... but if you want just enough to make an informed decision... please carry on...

The basic plot, which I'm sure everyone already knows about is the blooming relationship between two male cowboys. It starts off fairly simple, and by fairly simple, I mean incredibly slow. You are waiting for something to happen and it really takes a while before it does.

The two cowboys are sent to care for a herd on Brokeback Mountain. They go through some good weather, some bad weather, and have do deal with losing a great deal of the herd. They find that it gets lonely sometimes with one person watching the camp and one person tending to the herd all the time, so they take the time to stay together and hang out, so that they don't go crazy. It's during this time that they find themselves in a sexual moment, which at first, neither one of them really discussed. Soon however, they accepted the moment, and would play around with each other, wrestling, flirting, and truly accepting what they had together.

Soon enough the man who hired them found out about their relationship, and essentially got rid of them. The two of them ended up going their separate ways, until they were able to meet up in the future. They found each other, realizing that they were both married with children. They got together to talk about the old times on the mountain, and arranged 'fishing trips' which ended up being nothing more than an excuse for them to get together. Unfortunately for them, their families were beginning to find out about it, including Ennis Del Mar's (Heath Ledger) wife. This is of course started a marriage roller coaster and a lot of discontent in the relationship.

Over the years the relationship developed more, there were some hard times, but mostly good times.

The Acting
The acting in this movie is incredible. You can really feel the romance and passion between the two cowboys. It feels as if you are really part of something that is so much a secret and so powerful at the time. You can tell how scared they are for people to find out, out of fear that they will be murdered. You can tell how excited they are to see one another, and you can feel their pain and loneliness when they are away from one another.

This is probably one of the best scripted, best acted out movies, and it truly comes through on the screen. The relationships are developed so well throughout the movie, that you truly come to understand the two men, and understand the dynamic of their relationship. It allows you to really feel the way that they feel and to really understand what is happening in their lives. A lot of powerful dialogue in the movie, makes for some excellent acting opportunities and they definitely don't disappoint.

The Gayness of it all
The biggest controversy of the movie is the fact that there are two gay cowboys. This movie goes against, so many american traditions, that people just aren't willing to accept it. This is fine of course, except that those that don't accept it and watch it are truly missing out on an excellent movie, that really doesn't feature all that much in your face gayness.

The actual sex scenes are completely unseen. You don't see them getting undressed, you don't see them locked together, you don't see any of the sex scenes. In fact, the closest that you really get to it, is the very first scene when they are still on brokeback, where you just sort of see the outside of the tent, and you hear what sounds like them tossing and turning in the tent. There isn't really any grunting, nothing that would make you realize what was going on, besides the fact that you already know about the premise of the movie. But if you didn't know that, you'd be completely clueless what had just happened and would think nothing of it.

There are some pretty powerful kisses in the movie, but they are definitely viewable without too much issue, even if you are fairly homophobic. They don't get out of control with their making out, they don't slam each other up against walls, ripping off each other's clothes passionately, none of that. It's just a simple movie that shows the development of their relationship through dialogue. In fact, they aren't even physically together in a huge part of the movie, because the movie is about their lives apart and how badly they want to be together, but can't be out of fear. So the majority of the movie, realistically has nothing to do with them together or them being gay, it has everything to do with them being unhappy in their current situations.

Final Thoughts
For those of you that are willing to be open minded, like I was, you're in for a great movie. It has some impressive acting and a lot of really great highs and lows to it. The scripting is about as perfect as it could be for a movie of this genre and everything about the movie, is so realistic to what would probably happen, that you can truly feel the emotion involved in the situation.

I think that most people get so caught up in the 'gay' concept, that they are unwilling to try it out and see what it's all about. That's just unfortunate, because this is a damn good movie, definitely worth seeing.

The biggest issue that I have with the entire movie is the incredibly slow start that was very close to making me turn off the movie. I think it takes far too long to get into the meat of the movie, but once it does you are hooked and are curious to see more.

Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Serious Movie
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Pacing