Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain
Directed by : Lee Ang
Starring : Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal

Choo-choo! By the time I seen this movie, the entire hype train is at full force. The movie is now simply referred to as the "Gay Cowboy" movie. I thought I would pen down my thoughts on Brokeback Mountain before the 78th Annual Oscar Academy Awards. As I sat back and began to watch the opening credits, it was with a large degree of apprehension for the following reasons:

(a) This movie had caused the film industry to coin a new phrase "Brokeback Syndrome". It is when every critic praised the movie to such an extent, that no one else dared to critise it even though it honestly sucks. I have seen many such supposedly "great" movies that were highly acclaimed and went on to win Oscars but quite frankly, suck ass. It makes you wonder whether the Oscar judges have been watching the same movie as you. Examples of supposedly great Oscar award movies which sucks monkey balls are "Million Dollar Baby", "Titanic" and "Chicago". I recalled sitting through "Million Dollar Baby" and wondered whether it won the Oscar simply because nobody dared to piss off the great (but ancient) duo of Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman . I mean, that movie sucked ass so much I needed kerosene to wash dirt from my eyes. And don't get me started on "Chicago", a movie which won the Best Picture and got Catherine Zeta Jones the Best Actress award. I mean, in the name of all things good and holy. How? Why?

(b) It is directed by Lee Ang. The one who gave us "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" in 2000 or the movie which would be more accurately labelled as "Crouching Director Hidden Dumbasses". Am I the only one who think that the fighting sequences in CTHD are the most stupid and uncomfortable ones in cinematic history? How could the Western audience eat all this up and heap praises on it? Are you kidding me? My friend put it best when he said that he seen better fighting in those early 70s Hongkong movies on the one-armed swordsman. At least the one-armed swordsman (with one arm taped uncomfortably behind his back) can fight. Just because Lee Ang dangled Zang Zhiyi on a steel wire over some bamboos doesn't mean that it is "great cinematic fighting". Zhang Ziyi and Chow Yun Fatt looked like they were going to burst out laughing half the time while they were swaying on bamboos.

And Lee Ang gave us the disaster piece known as "The Hulk". He should have called it "The Suck" since everything sucks in that movie. Look, Mr Lee. Small man who became a big green monster and smashed things. How simple can it get? There is no need to put in a social or moral perspective to a big green man smashing things, you dummy.

(c) It is Captain Obvious we are talking about here. He who enjoyed watching all the B-Grade slasher movies like Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. He who thought Starship Troopers ought to win an Oscar for being cool. I hate almost all romantic movies and all movies involving any possible gay themes (Colin Farrel in Alexander, raise your hand please). So a gay western? Now you understand why things looked bleak for Brokeback Mountain.

So it is no small praise when I said this : Brokeback Mountain is indeed good. While it does not live up to its hype 100%, it far exceeds my high cinematic yardstick. There I said it, the Gay Cowboy movie is good. Lee Ang finally got one right. I know, I am shocked too.

I hated saying good and mushy things about movies so I am going to do this just once. Forget about the breathtaking scenery of the Canadian Rockies in the background although that itself is worth the ticket as each frame is laced with loving attention (I am so going to Canada or Wyoming in my next holiday). This one is about love across all divides. It is about a kind of love which really could not be spoken but only whispered. Go see this movie to see the stunning portrayal of tough men who danced around a forbidden love for 20 years while leading a double life as straight husbands. Go witness the suffering wrought upon the poor wives who followed their gay husbands. One even faithfully followed her husband all the way to the bitter end without confronting her husband. Budding thespians, take note.

I don't want to give away the plot of the movie lest you have not seen it. But watch out for the ending sequence when Ledger made THAT phonecall to Ann Hathaway (wife of Gyllenhaal). In my entire years of watching movies, I have never seen so much meaning conveyed with so few words in just five minutes. Ledger spoke with a voice laden with society repression - he was positively mumbling but his pain never felt so real. If you can't feel it, you officially don't have a heartbeat and are therefore an undead which is reading this blog now. Hathaway spoke with the voice of a wife who suspected for 20 years that his husband wasn't exactly straight but never asked her husband. She danced around the issue just like the pair of gay lovers danced around the issue of coming out of the closet. Women who refused to face the truth vs Men who refused to give in to their desire for love. Interesting?

In summary, the movie is moving, emotional and if you can just put aside your inborn prejudices against gays for just two hours, will touch you with its simple tale of forbidden and tragic love which is doomed in this society we are living in.

I put his one way above other freaking love stories like "Titanic" which bores me to tears and made me want to kick Kate Winslet and Di Caprio's asses into the sea. The momentum that is Brokeback Mountain could not be stopped at the Oscars. I know there is currently some talk that "Crash" might stop Brokeback Mountain at the Oscars. But I still think that one would need to turn back time to bring out Lord of the Rings : Return of the King to stop this one from being crowned Best Picture Oscar in 2006. And even that might not be enough.