I saw this film a while back, but it’s taken me a while to ponder if I actually liked it or not. Or even if I wanted to review it or just argue about it!

There is something very watch-able about an Ang Lee film.  Not only the cinematography but his ability to direct a film that does reflective, passion, intimacy, and drama mixed with unspoken desire extremely well.

Essentially the film is a love story, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as Ennis and Jack – two sheepboys (hmm not sure about the sheepboys? But they aren’t cowboys as there are no cows in sight BUT OK Cowboys sound so much cooler that sheep boys….). Anyway sorry I digress. So Ennis and Jack have an intense all encompassing, taboo relationship over the course of many many years. As a couple in love they carry it off. You do walk out at the end feeling that yes they were a couple and yes the performance of two men being in love with each other was utterly believable. Your heart string will be twanged by the ending. The writer, actors, director… in fact everyone involved… should be praised for that. 

I suppose the way I ended up looking at this film was like this: what if we switched the characters so that they were a heterosexual couple? Bare with me for a second….Suppose Ennis was female (lets say played by Anne Hathaway as she is in the film and a strong actor I think), and Jack was still played by Jake Gyllenhaal. So if we do that… and changed all the other characters to be the appropriate sex i.e. wives’ become husbands etc, would the film work? To me the answer is yes. Definitely.

That’s the reason I want it to win an Oscar. The strong script, the way the characters develop and grow. The way the script explores what it is to be human, to be in love, to be uncertain, to be fearful of others opinions of you. How it is that we as humans go about dealing with things we just don’t think we have capacity of understanding let alone how to cope with them, yet somehow we do. We deal, we grow, we survive.

But having said all that it’s NOT a film I want to see win an Oscar for the reason that I think it’s been nominated. It’s not a film I will rave about to people just because it’s a supposedly a Gay Cowboy movie. There are no cows! No sorry moving on. So… I want it to win an Oscar for the reasons I muttered in the last paragraph. I was moved by it, it worked for me as a film. I swallowed the whole story, hook line, sinker, rod and copy of Angling Times. It was a well made film with great acting… fantastic script and wonderful cinematography. That’s why I want it to win, and win well.

It is a great film; go see it. If you are an Oscar winner then vote for it! But please try and ignore the hype.

Andy
a.bruce-lockhart@partyinkingston.com