Everybody lies

It took me a long time, but this weekend I finally got around to watching Brokeback Mountain.

I have never been all too interested in seeing it in the first place, but since I am still kinda sad that Heath Ledger passed away recently, I thought I should watch it just to see him once again. Especially since it looks like this film is gonna be his legacy (together with the new Batman, of course).

And I’m gonna say something quite sacrilegous now, so cover your eyes if you love the movie: I thought it was the most boring movie I have seen in ages.

I was in turns so completely bored with it and annoyed by some things that I couldn’t even bring myself to watch it all the way through. After I felt myself drifting off repeatedly I gave up after some 90 minutes or so. Now probably everybody is going to tell me that the most important and poignant moments came only after that. Well, I honestly don’t care.

I know that for some people, especially Americans (sorry, folks, but it’s true) the depiction of a gay relationship in a major Hollywood blockbuster is a very shocking and surprising and exciting thing and therefore the movie was lauded for its bravery and forwardness and all that. But, to be honest, that fact is more telling about the bigotry of our society today than of any special quality of the movie.

So, you have these 2 guys who fall in love and have an affair for pretty much all their lives, even though they are both married. Wohoo, big fucking deal.

Maybe if people would manage to get the hell over themselves and finally accept that homosexuality is just a fact of life, in itself not more remarkable or special than being blond or having green eyes or whatever, this movie would be seen as what it is: just another love story, and not a very interesting one at that. Maybe it’s because I live in Germany and here being gay is really not all that noteworthy nowadays - hell, even the mayor of Berlin is openly gay and nobody bats any eyelid over it.

So, apart from the “gay cowboys” thing I really don’t get what was supposed to be so extraordinary about this movie. Of course, it’s tragic that Ennis and Jack couldn’t openly show their love and live together, because of the prejudiced times they lived in. I don’t think that’s an excuse for their behaviour, but be that as it may.

My main problem with the movie was that I didn’t engage with any of the characters. And that had nothing to do with the fact that Jack and Ennis were gay. They were just plain boring. (Oh, and Michelle Williams was also extremely annoying - every time I see her face I just get the urge to punch her, but that’s a personal thing).

One other thing that majorly annoyed me was the way they talked, especially Heath. Was that supposed to be some Midwestern accent or something? Whatever it was, it was godawful. It not only made him sound slightly retarded, but I also had to really struggle to actually understand a word he said. I have seen most of Heath Ledger’s other movies, so I know the boy could enunciate and talk properly. This mumbling and muttering did not exactly add to my (already barely existing) enjoyment of the movie.

The only good thing were the nice nature shots in the first part of the movie, when they were actually still up on that mountain.

On the whole, I am clearly not impressed with the movie. I will strike this one from my mental list of Heath Ledger’s films and go on remembering him as the boy from 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knight’s Tale. And I keep hoping for The Dark Knight to be worth the wait.