Brokeback Mountain - 6

This may be the most misunderstood film to come out ever! This film is more about violence and brokenness than it is about gay love. The gay community has supported the film because two guys kiss on screen. But I think that they may have missed the underlying assumptions in the film about what it means to be gay (which I think they would probably disagree with, in the case of Jack it has nothing to do with love at all). The main character, Ennis (played very well by Heath Ledger), is not really gay (I take this term to be one of identity), he is sadomasicistic. He has only know a violent existence and his sex with both men and women in the film is a violent out-working of his emotional abuse as a child. Ennis is alone in the world, and only near the end does he really understand that his daughter loves him. He has spent his whole life pushing people away because he has been shut out of his siblings lives. The film makes a big statement about how failed families are connected with homosexuality and being gay. I'm not trying to be a spoiler if you are going to see this film, but the ending is more ambiguous than it seems (see this review by Roger Ebert). The characters and struggles are very real in the film which is why this film will win the Oscar for best picture. This film was directed by Ang Lee, whose films Eat Drink Man Woman and The Wedding Banquet which he co-wrote have similar themes. You can read the short story by Annie Proulx here.