Love Is A Force Of Nature

An epic love story set against the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas, Brokeback Mountain tells the story of two young men - a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy - who meet in the summer of 1963, and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love...

DEFINITELY, THE MOVIE OF THE YEAR.

From a short novella published in a magazine (and then winning a Pulitzer Prize) comes a love story that will stand the test of time. I have read the novella at least five times since it first came out. And now that the movie has been made, I read the book again twice. And everytime, I notice something different. Maybe the nuance of the words change; maybe it's how the characters relate to each other. Or just that the story is timeless.

The movie has been described as "an American love story" by the mainstream media; not as "a gay love story". It shatters the ideal of cowboys in the West and challenges the fact that given the right circumstances, people fall in love regardless of sexual orientation. And the possibility that "gay" love can last a lifetime.

Does it mean that acceptance is around the corner? One can only hope but I doubt it. There'll always be a group of haters who will never outgrow their stupidity and ignorance specially those who hide behind their religious zealotry and those that cater to that fear. One movie cannot change closed minds. But it is a start.

I hope this movie gets shown in its entirety in Manila. So my friends there can feel what it feels like to see a movie like this up on a giant screen. Where a love story is told like it is... a love story of hope, choice and consequences. When I saw the movie, I was fine until the very last line...

"I swear, Jack..."