Epiosde 43 - Brokeback Mountain Review Part 1
Hi Everyone
Hope you are all doing well - as many of you know the movie Brokeback Mountain has come out on dvd this week. Since it was so well received I wanted to do a series of shows talking about the film with previous guests and with new people to get their thoughts on why they did or didn't like the movie.
Episode 43
posted by RambleRedhead at 1:25 AM
4 Comments:
In defense of the pacing of the movie that you discussed in this episdoe: This movie was based on a short story and in the short story there is very little discussion about the time between Ennis and Jacks meetings. The story isn't about the details of their relationship but moreso about the dynamic of the two main characters relationship. The time between their meetings is inconsequential to the message that the story is conveying. In fact the time between thier meetings makes the narrative more epic and rich.
This is where I think that most of the time short stories can be more poignant than novels. It is distilled narrative that leaves the reader to develop the characters given the very vivid bone structure set out by the author in the limited amound of text.
Reading a short story, watching a movie, or reading a novel, in my opinion, isn't a passive activity. There is always subtext and it is up to the reader to actively extract it in order to make the text truly come alive.
Okay I have to make another comment. Again this is not simply a movie but yet in this interview you talk about how they could have ended the movie differently. BM is an adaptation of a previously published written work.
Now regarding the end of the movie and how gay people always die. Thats reality. Jack died because intolerance destroyed and prevented the relationship that they had and could have had, respectively. I think Ennis taking the shirt at the end, especially if you read the short story, is far more personal than just scattering ashes on a mountain. That was the shirt that Jack wore the first night they were together on brokeback. That was the shirt that was used to stop the bleeding nose after they got into a fight on brokeback. That shirt had not been washed since that day, the dried blood was still on it and at the end you see Ennis embracing the shirt, in effect embracing his true love even after death.
I guess this movie is too close to home for me to be objective about this as I can relate very closely to certain aspects of these characters' lives. I thought this movie was an incredible achievement and was devistated at the conclusion of the movie as well as the fact that "Crash" won out over this at the Oscars.
I absolutely disagree with almost all of your comments, Tom, as well as the guys you interviewed. The realization of this story was beautiful and despite comments to the contrary, it was NOT a run of the mill love story.
Before I saw it, I was unhappy because of the death at the end of the movie because that is so "movie of the week" - we have been through this with others as you commented - but this was set in a specific time and in a specific geographical area. This wasn't AIDS or the Castro - this was 1960s and Wymoming
Regarding Adam's comment about Jake's death - if it was through bashing as Ennis sees in his mind, it would be very believable for the times - however, we don't know how Jack died. He may have really died as the result of a blow tire, but it is Ennis' agony that Jack was killed the way another old cowboy had been. To me that makes Jack's death even more devistating.
For me, it was Jack's openess to living with Ennis which made Ennis' emotional subjugation even more poingnant. Jack's flings with the boys in Mexico emphasized the strength of Jack's turmoil at living a straight life.
Yes, it was sad for the women. Thank you society for creating the kind of environment which made all four of these people suffer.
I truly enjoyed the movie - thanks for shariing the views of the guests. It made me think of new things to think about
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