Brokeback Mountain
Bang bang, the boys fight it out – often for the hand of a pretty lady, or to protect her fair charms. Cowboy films had love interest, but rarely convincing love or romance. That was the stuff of women’s pictures.
The Western dramatized a potent civilizing myth, but no-one makes these films anymore – we’ve moved on. Brokeback Mountain looks like a Western – big wide landscape, guys with rifles and Stetson hats riding on horses. But it turns the mainstream Western inside out and tells a story Hollywood has never told before.
Jack is gay, he needs a relationship with a man. Ennis doesn’t, he has no sexual desires for other men. He simply falls in love with Jack. Their feelings are universal, as old as humanity, and their love is beautifully and convincingly told. Their story, though, is a tragic one – simply, when all is said and done, because of anti-gay prejudice.
Heath Ledger brilliantly plays the instinctual Ennis, saying very little but conveying deep-felt emotion and fear. The script and direction are subtle, the men’s family and social circumstances nicely established. This is a moving resonant film, Hollywood’s best for years.
- Product information
- directed by Ang Lee
- Publisher
- Released by Entertainment Films
- Star rating
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
