Brokeback Mountain

There was been quite a bit of interest in "Brokeback Mountain" in the Chinese press for two reasons - one, Ang Lee, a Taiwanese, won an Oscar for it; and two, this film had been banned in China.

It is interesting to note that the title of the film had been used by the Chinese press to describe a gay experince or single sex relationship/intimacy as portrayed by the characters Jake and Ennis.

I read an article in the Chinese press describing Ang Lee as have had his "Brokeback Mountain." In that article, Ang Lee was supposed to have had a close relationship with a male friend before Ang left for USA.

I thought Ang Lee's "Wedding Banquet" was an interesting film. It depicted quite realistically the Chinese concept of weddings, relationships and the parents' expectations from their children, among other things. Having watched the show it is small wonder there are so many closeted Chinese in China.

I hadn't been aware (somehow) that BBM had been released on DVD, and so, while at Wal-Mart, I looked for it. I was surprised to find that it wasn't stocked at the store. Then when I thought about the store's general policies, realized it wasn't the type of movie for them. Looking around however, I found collections of "Queer Eye", "Will & Grace", "The 'L' Word", and the movie "Capote"! Apparently BBM has some sort of stigma to Wal-Mart execs???

Actually, they may ahve been out, or it might have been the store manager's decision, as corporate announced they would sell it, and took a lot of flack for it from "religious" groups and "conservative" taalk radio. But it is all about the $$$ with Wallyworld.

I hear ya there... I'll have to check back. I picked it up elsewhere, but I'll see if they have it stocked.

I just found this thread & enjoyed reading all the responses. I have to say that BBM changed the way I feel about myself and my relationships with girls and guys. It was a big eye-opener for me in that I could see how any 2 people can fall for each other. Like a lot of the other folks here this movie has stayed with me for months.

One of the best romantic movie. Strongly recommend.

I've never seen how 2 guys could be together & in love in a movie before or in real life. So BBM showed these guys being tight & making love & talking. It was cool how comfortable they were with each other & how they related. Instead of it being weird i thought their being together was nice & comfortable. It definately was a sad ending & all but i thought just seeing them as lovers was a real good thing for me & has helped me understand my own feelings.

This thread has been dead for some time I know....but felt compelled to add to it today. I have an african friend (from an island called Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania) staying with me at the moment, he is married to a friend of mine, which is how I know him, they have had some marital troubles, and my friend asked if her husband (Omar) could stay with me a while, so they can both get some breathing space. Omar is a very masculine guy, yet like a child in many ways, breathtakingly honest, smiling, and actually a very beautiful man to look at.

I have known him now for 5 years, but never really got to know who he really is. This time we have had has been amazing, I have discovered myself again, and now can see that for some time before he moved in, I was actually suffering from a deep depression, and that takes a lot for me to reveal. We have both discovered happiness in each other, having that male company with no obligations, no undercurrents, no guilty secrets or words left long unspoken. In essence, I guess Omar makes me feel like a child again.

Omar struggles with the concept of homosexuality, and although he is by nature very tactile...(he often comes behind me and puts his arms around me, holds me), I have on occasion become aroused...which he finds amusing but at the same time he will make sure to tell me that he is not gay. I tell him that I know this, but sometimes nature just takes hold, which he understands.

It's so strange the love we have, he kisses me often on the lips, so tenderly, and strokes my hair, sits with me cuddling me. If I was a younger man, I know that this situation would become untenable, but with 36 years of life behind me, I deal with it, and see the love, not the sex, that is there, however strange this may seem.

Tonight we watched Brokeback Mountain, he picked up the DVD and asked to watch it, so we did. Watching this movie again...it is just so powerful, surely this must become one of the all time celluloid classics....after the film ended, and the credits rolled, Omar looked at me, tears in his eyes, and said..'slavery, the holocaust, all terrible things, but you gay people, you have been persecuted for the longest time! More than anyone else!' I had never thought about this, and it was a relevation to hear it coming from Omy. Maybe we have, maybe we have not, yet this story/film had/has so much power within it, to be able to affect so many different people from so many different walks of life...and this is what makes it such an awesome piece of art.

I guess what I am trying to say is that sometimes we lose ourselves, lose sight of what is real and immerse ourselves in loneliness and fear, and for me, to find the love of a true male friendship, one that is pure, with or without sex, is an incredible thing, it has removed the cloud that has followed me these last few months. It does get harder to make new friends as one gets older, and the ones I have kept from my youth, now all live in far places. My partner has been away for 3 months, so I have felt a bit washed up, I guess I forgot who I was for a while. I stopped knowing myself. And all it took, was the love of a brother, to make it all better.
I hope this makes sense, it was hard for me to write it down.

You should check out the Ultimate Brokeback Forum. You'll find a lot of people who were very affected by that movie and will understand your feelings. Many of their lives have been changed for the better by BBM.

Yes, this was a powerful movie. It certainly was an eye opener. Way back when this movie first came out I and my wife had to travel a great distance to view it. It finally came to our small town. People of all types enjoyed the movie.