(With special thanks to the team at Insight Cinemas for working with DeafDC.com and for their continued dedication to bringing open-captioned films to our theaters!)
Yes, I’m addicted to Brokeback Mountain. In fact, with my having seen it six times without captions, some might even say it’s an obsession. Ok, it might really be both obsession and desperation. I just couldn’t wait for the captioned version which will be in theaters starting on Sunday!
So what is Brokeback Mountain all about? In short and without wanting to spoil the film experience for anyone, it’s an incredible love story that simply transcends gender and illustrates the themes of forbidden love, loss, missed opportunities and facing the consequences of the choices one makes in life. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are two sheepherders who meet and fall in love while working on a Wyoming mountain. The movie then takes you on a journey throughout the next 20 years of their lives and you get to see how they are sadly forced to be in the closet to survive.
One of the great things about Brokeback that deaf people will really appreciate is the beauty of how the characters are able to express themselves without the spoken word. The emotions of one character, Ennis Del Mar, simply jump right off the theater screen. You’re made to feel as if you need to leap from your seat and into the movie screen just to be able to hold this guy who is in pain. His wordlessness, his stares and glances, his posture - there is just absolutely no need for captions to convey the message that this is a guy who suffers much heartache - and later on in the film, is a man who is undeniably… in love with another.
I read somewhere that love is only as powerful as the barriers that prevent its fulfillment. For you straight folk, any roadblocks towards love are long gone in the name of progress - you have legalized marriage where present-day society rarely bats an eye when issues of class or race are involved. In contrast, gay people today are still being discriminated against in America, the proverbial land of the free.
For many of us single people, straight or gay, loneliness is something that we all try so desperately to avoid throughout our lives. And it is this loneliness or perhaps the fear thereof that will haunt some people when they see Brokeback. Ennis and Jack cannot choose to end their loneliness because they both have made wrong ‘life decisions’ that are the result of an intense fear of society and its sometimes deadly oppression towards homosexuality.
I know many of you will be as moved by Brokeback as I have. What I find remarkable is that this movie will have done so much more in a few months time to open the hearts and minds of conservative America than most gay activist groups will have done in years.
For me personally, it doesn’t matter if Brokeback wins the Best Picture Oscar. What I really hope for as an effect is for people to realize the terrible cost of making the wrong choices in life and how they can adversely affect one’s shot at true love and happiness. Too many people are victims of hate crimes as a result of homophobia. Too many confused teenagers are committing suicide because they do not have the needed support, guidance or acceptance from their loved ones. And generally, too many people, straight or gay, are unhappy with their lives because they’ve chosen the wrong path.
If Brokeback Mountain can soundly communicate the importance of choices and their consequences, and I think it does brilliantly with its final scene, then it will have, as Director Ang Lee said in his speech at the Golden Globes, have “the power to change the way America thinks.”
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11 Comments
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Ok, Rob I get the hint. I’ll see it first chance I get. It probably won’t be for another month or two since Indianapolis is a bit uncivilized compared to DC.
By the way, hope you enjoyed the snow and oh, one more thing, don’t eat yellow snow, ok? :)
Pepe Le Pew
beautiful blog.
i hope that rather than seeing this just as a gay movie, they’ll see this as a human movie in all senses.
can’t wait to see it!
Do you read Ted Casablanca’s column? I love it- and there, he has frequently taken up issue with the critics hailing this movie as one of the greatest ever. Part of his reasoning is that real gay cowboys in real life would not have made the same choices that these characters did, and that its a bit hard for some of those in the ‘gaysphere’ to swallow. While I haven’t yet seen the movie and cannot
really contribute any meaningful (or fair) analysis, I do somewhat understand where Ted is coming from. For example, think about the TV show, Susan FBEye… While you enjoy how the deaf sleuth goes through episode after another solving these great mysteries, you know that in real life thered be no chance in Samantha’s Hell that somebody deaf could actually pull it off- especially Susan’s effortless ability to communicate in all-hearing groups!
And I don’t know if you can wholly attribute feelings of loneliness only to single people; those in a commited relationship can also feel entirely alone if they’re not satisified intellectually, emotionally, or physically. But I find it very interesting how you saw the movie six times- despite there not being any captions- because that tells me that whatever you saw in this movie struck a such deep resonance within; so deep, that it’s more dear to your heart than the fact that those capable in the industry haven’t gone the extra length to make this movie captioned and accessible for all. I know others who really want to watch this movie but are not willing to miss out on any of the verbose; does that mean they really care about “full accessibility”, or are they simply afraid to take risks? Methinks it could possibly be the latter. But you have to take risks if you want to broaden your perspective. And unfortunately, some Americans are still afraid to do just that.
I can’t wait to see this movie, which will finally put a rest to all my wonderings about what I read in the media - and in this blog! My apologies for the length of this commentary!
You’ve told me about BBM before and I know you just looove this movie. So, now, I cannot wait to see it this Sunday!
You’ve nailed it about making choices and some were made as a result from societal norms or pressures. I’m glad I am what I am today because of choices that I’ve made, even when they weren’t easy to make.
However, life isn’t finished with me and therefore, more choices will be made.
a;skdfja;s i wanna see it, cant wait. i know im gonna LOVE it.
You’ve left me pondering many things — and one of them is that I know what it’s like to be lonely (try thinking about growing up in an hearing/audist community your entire elementary and part of your pubescent years), and now having found the right person in my wife.
I gots to see BBM now — soon.
Rob, at first, I thought you were an idiot for watching the movie six times without the captions. But after completing the article, I could not say that you’re an idiot except that you nailed everything on the spot.
Great entry!
Looking forward to the movie!
R-
good review! i am SO there (open captioned Brokeback Mountain)
:)
I noticed Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) looks sort of like President Bush if the light hits him in the right way. Wouldn’t that be funny if it was?
I read with interest Julie T’s comments about Ted Casablanca’s column. I must confess ignorance about Mr. Casablanca but I wanted to chime in on his observations. I am a contemporary of the two main characters in Brokeback Mt. The main difference is that I grew up in New York City. Despite that, in order to gain the love of my family and the acceptence of society, I married after having lived as an out gay man. In the 1960’s gay life was nowhere near as acceptable as it has become subsequently (and, Lord knows, it is still far from being accepted broadly — even in the so-called blue states).
Brokeback Mountain touched me deeply as it did many with whom I have spoken. Ang Lee may well receive the Acadamy Award for this well crafted film, but he should also receive awards from such important civil rights organizations as the Human Rights Campaign for shining light on a subject that most people would rather ignor.
I would urge you to see this movie so that you can decide if it does what it set out to do — open hearts and minds.
Funny, Allison has a completely different take on this on….