Love makes ‘Brokeback’ Oscar favorite

The personal answer
I have to admit that “Brokeback” didn’t look particularly appealing to me from that September trailer. A hopeless, doomed romance. Yay. I also admit to some straight-guy trepidation — but of the general rather than the Larry David “it might make me gay” variety. If the number of times I got screwed over by women in my youth didn’t lead me to consider an alternative, there’s nothing Heath Ledger can do now.

But when I finally saw “Brokeback” I found it nearly perfect. It’s more than a love story; it’s really about loneliness, which is a more universal emotion anyway. Some of us haven’t been in love; some of us don’t believe in love. Everyone’s been lonely.

It’s ambiguous enough to argue about endlessly. Heath Ledger’s Ennis del Mar feels like the man in the film — in the one sex scene, he gives rather than receives — and he’s taciturn and bottled-up in the way of men. He talks with his fists, and sometimes he talks too much, but he’s gentle with women and never has a harsh word for his daughters. One could argue he’s what we want the American man to be. As Manohla Dargis wrote in The New York Times, “I don't know a single straight woman who hasn't been involved with a man as emotionally thwarted as Ennis, the man who can't tell you how he feels because he may not honestly know.” Exactly. Tease us! Frustrate us!

But Jake Gyllenhaal’s Jack Twist actually outmans Ennis. Jack won’t be circumscribed by society. He stands up to his father-in-law, he stands up to his father, he stands up. He tries to live his dreams. Forget everyone else. Forget Ennis, too. If Ennis won’t have the ranch with Jack, Jack will just have it with someone else.

Ennis isn’t strong like that. He’s so scared of who he is he begins to disappear within himself. An early shot shows him leaning against the boss-man’s trailer, head down, cowboy hat covering his face. It’s cowboy cool a la James Dean. Throughout the film Ennis keeps that cowboy hat covering his face but with each frame it becomes more tragic — a man too scared to be seen. Don’t look at my face because you might see who I am. He gives himself a smaller and smaller spot on which to live his increasingly shrunken life. The movie begins with youth and wide-open vistas and ends in middle-age in a tiny trailer. The one scene that broke my heart is wholly ordinary: Ennis, alone in a cafeteria booth, head down, picking at a piece of pie. He’s alone, and will remain alone, no matter how many waitresses try to drag his ass onto the dance floor.

This is why the movie is striking a chord with the non-gay community. Ennis resonates because he reminds us of some part of us. Life has such possibilities, and from lack of courage or weariness or outright fear we allow it to shrink us into this small, sad space doing this small, sad thing. Don’t look at my face because you might see who I am. The film does what it’s supposed to do. It’s specific but it’s universal.

A coupla straight guys sitting around talking
As for my friends Laurion, Eric and Jim? They’ve all changed their minds. Everyone’s talking about “Brokeback” and they want to be part of that conversation. Laurion hasn’t seen it yet but will. Eric thought it good if slightly overrated. Jim thought it one of the best movies of the year.

So no matter what happens March 5th, “Brokeback” has already won.

Erik Lundegaard can be reached at:

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