This movie, unto itself, is a celebration that there is hope for the empathy possible from our straight counterparts particularly in our current times of so much foment coming from the extreme right religiosity around the world. To this day, I celebrate the sensitivity straight people brought to a heart-wrenching love story between two men of a certain time and place. You had to know the life that was so closeted in those times, especially for those of us who were closer to the ‘rural’ scene. Ang Lee struck an incredible note of sensitivity to the times, for the story was one that transpired over years, not in the time of the movie’s release. That freshness translated into their believability and chemistry. These lamenters of “Brokeback Mountain” forget both Gyllenhaal and Ledger were only ‘actors-on-the-rise’ and still fresh faces to many of us in both the straight and gay realms. The only other ‘wide release movie’ I can think touches upon this kind of energy between the two main characters is “God’s Own Country”.
Some seem riled that two straight actors got these roles or somehow the intimacy was ‘tame’?! I’m not sure what movie they were watching, because I came away feeling the intensity of the two characters.
