More than just 'film of the week' - Brokeback Mountain

Tonight is a special night on British TV - as part of a commemorative evening for Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain receives its premiere on mainstream television. The rest of the evening includes viewings of The Patriot and Candy. It is very possible that some people will watch Brokeback tonight for the very first time, curious to see what all the 'fuss' has been about.


Brokeback Mountain was controversial, for sure. I was in Arizona when the film was released and when I asked at the cinema there when they were going to show Brokeback, I was told they would not be showing it at all. This attitude towards Brokeback Mountain, either ignoring it completely or making jokes about it without having actually seen it, is exemplified by this:



Despite the jokes and ribbing that the actors received for putting their hearts into Brokeback Mountain, the roles won them admiration and respect amongst their peers, or at least some of them. While George Clooney saw cowboys everywhere - as his opposition at each awards ceremony - Anne Hathaway said that Meryl Streep would never have acted against her if it hadn't have been for Brokeback Mountain. By contrast, Heath Ledger was allegedly advised against taking the role of Ennis by his Patriot co-star Mel Gibson, because it went against his morals.


It is the belief of some, including Brokeback's producer James Schamus, that Brokeback was robbed of its Academy Award because of an orchestrated campaign by some of the walking dead of Hollywood, notably by Ernest Borgnine and Tony Curtis, who said that Brokeback was an insult to John Wayne. Typically for bigotry, both refused to see the film and so had little idea what they were talking about, so influentially. One wonders what Jamie Lee Curtis thought about all this. Crash, even with its own contentious subject matter, was a safer bet for some members of the Academy. As this article asks, do academy members use their votes to make a political point and what is it about a film that creates an emotional response and can that be political?


Fortunately, not only did Jake Gyllenhaal win a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor in 2006, Brokeback was honoured with the Best Film award in London.



Mind you, some stars had a bit of an extreme reaction and went the other way, just to show how much they approved of Brokeback Mountain. There are others, Madonna for example, who called Brokeback 'shocking', to much publicity, and then gave a revised opinion, saying that she had seen a private viewing of the film and admired its actors.



Other people have talked publicly about how Brokeback spoke to them just as it has to us. Boy George, for instance: '"I have asked a lot of straight men about Brokeback Mountain and they said they couldn't relate to it." I tell him I related to it. I sobbed. "But you are a woman. You have a female sensibility, just like I do. I cried at the trailer. I was like, 'Oh my God, that is my life!' It deals with intimacy, which is far more shocking than sex."'


This preview from the Guardian, about the expectations that surrounded the release of Brokeback Mountain, is well worth a reread. The extraordinary emotional response of Brokeback's audiences over the last two and a half years has surely sent the best message of all to the filmmakers and film commentators, as well as to everyone involved in the creation of Brokeback Mountain.

Brokeback Mountain is on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight. I hope everyone who hasn't acces to UK TV will instead have access to their well-worn DVD.


Includes pictures from Advocate, Bent, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair.