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I was a bit disappointed. I can't exactly explain why - it was just a feeling most of all. I went to see it during a mid-week matinee (spring break) and it was me, my husband, and a bunch of older (retired-age) people.
I remember thinking that the writers could have gone a little further to make the point that we, as a society, sometimes force people into living lies. This I already know (and I have a friend whose husband of 10 years came out of the closet after trying to live as a heterosexual for his entire life, as he had been taught was the "normal" way to live, which devastated his wife, his daughter, and him - they are doing their best to adapt but it's very hard). I don't know that the average movie-goer might think of that while watching the film. We see Michelle William's pain at finding out that her husband has been in love with another man - we feel for her and how much that must have hurt. But, we don't get shown the big lesson - that we ask to be lied to. We ask gay people to live the heterosexual life and when they realize they can't (or more importantly, shouldn't!), we get angry at them for the pain they've caused their families, ex's, children, etc., etc.
Recently, I was teaching about prejudice and discrimination and I made the above point in class. I also wore my "gay? fine by me." t-shirt to class that day. A few days later, a student emailed me saying how she really appreciated what I had to say that day (and my shirt). She told me about her own personal story of how her father told her mom (at the age of 40) that he was gay and they subsequently divorced. She said it was a very difficult experience for her family but that my lecture that day made her feel normal and not embarrassed and that she understood her dad for the first time since the divorce (which had been fairly recent). She said that she's kept a good relationship with him because he's a good father, but that it was really hard for her to understand why/how he didn't know his own sexuality before then.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that, although I don't think that movie-goers always need to be hit over the head with the moral of the story, I think that Brokeback Mountain could have used a bit more of it. I thought the best part of the movie, by the way, was the scene at Jake Gyllenhaal's parents house (with Heath Ledger in Jake's old room). That was very well done.
Anyway, my two cents. :)
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