Gay Cowboy Flick Becomes Award-Winning Blockbuster

 Ray Buffington, editor-in-chief

Romance, drama, horse riding, and handsome gay cowboys. Now, that is what I call a good movie.

“Brokeback Mountain,” directed by Ang Lee, who is known for his work on “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” is about two cowboys who meet while looking for work. They are assigned to sheep-herding, alone, atop a mountain deemed Brokeback for the summer.

Being isolated from the world, except for each other and the sheep, Jack, played by Jake  Gyllenhaal, and Ennis, played by Heath Ledger, have nothing to entertain themselves except each other.

Within a few weeks, they both begin to feel a connection toward each other that is more than platonic. A night of passion leaves them both confused and somewhat distant from each other. But within a few days, they released themselves and followed their hearts and their love for one another.

After the summer ended, it came time for Ennis and Jack to part. Ennis had a fiancé waiting in Wyoming, and Jack wanted to follow his dreams of the rodeo in Texas. They left each other, both heart-broken and still somewhat confused as to what exactly they had together.

Four years later, Ennis is married with children and working odd jobs as a ranch hand while Jack had married a wealthy rodeo queen and is working for her father. Jack sent Ennis a postcard, letting him know he was on his way to Wyoming to see him.

When the two finally meet again after four years, the passion they had for each other during their summer at Brokeback Mountain was immediately reignited, and they escape to their past haven for a week or two, leaving both of their wives slightly confused but not too concerned.

While back at Brokeback Mountain, Jack explains his plans for him and Ennis to leave their families and start a ranch so they could be together. Ennis does love Jack, but explains he can’t for he is afraid of what would happen to them if people began to  question why two men were living together, alone.

Ennis’s father had showed him, once when he was a child, the corpse of a man who had once lived alone with a man in their town. The man had been dragged around town and beaten to death. Ennis hadn’t been sure why his father wanted him to see the body, but he had an idea.

After Ennis declined Jack’s offer, the two continue, throughout the years, meeting four or five times a year for two-to-three weeks at a time at Brokeback Mountain, all the while living other lives with their families at home.

I am not going to give the ending away. You should definitely go see it yourself, but the rest of the movie is chock full of heart-wrenching scenes, mind-shocking moments, and tear-jerking music.

An amazing film, the plot shows that people do not choose who they fall in love with, regardless of gender. And if they are to deny their feelings for each other, it tends to make the situation worse for themselves and those around them.

The movie captured a different point of view, in our world, that some people refuse to look at. The point is, we are all people who love and want to be loved, so why judge?

Ledger and Gyllenaal both did phenomenal jobs of acting out their parts. It is not every day that a director requires two heterosexual males to kiss intimately on the screen, and they handled it like professionals.

“Brokeback Mountain” was nominated for 8 Academy awards. Actor in a Leading Role (Ledger), Actor in a Supporting Role (Gyllenhaal), Actress in a Supporting Role (Michelle Williams), Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Score, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Ledger and Gyllenaal definitely earned their nods. Not just for being able to makeout with each other without cringing, but for being able to portray such a love and desire the characters had for one another, the kind that eats at the heart.

Lubbock is not exactly what you would call an “open-minded” city. Rather, the majority of the citizens of that city prefer a life of ignorance and get slightly grumpy when the liberal monsters from other states try to infiltrate their peaceful social norms with “evil” works of literature and “un-ethical” blockbuster movies.

This is why I was shocked when I learned “Brokeback Mountain” was playing in Lubbock. The movie isn’t exactly your average conservative Lubbockite’s cup of tea, having to do with the love and passion of two closeted, gay cowboys, which was why I was almost positive I’d have to wait for the DVD to come out before I would be able to see it. Apparently, the movie’s success could not keep it contained.

According to an employee of Cinemark theatres, who preferred to remain anonymous, when a blockbuster movie is nominated for a large award, such as a Golden Globe or an Academy Award, it is the major movie mogul’s company policy to show that movie at all cities that they have a theatre in.

The movie was nominated for seven Golden Globe awards and won four of them, for Best Director, Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Original Song, and Best Screenplay.

The movie definitely earns a five-out-of-five stars from me. For you, I shall close with my favorite snippet from the movie that shows that words are just words.

Ennis: “It’s a one-shot thing we got goin’ on here.”

Jack: “Ain’t nobody’s business but ours.”

Ennis: “You know I ain’t queer.”

Jack: “Me neither.”