Finally...

[silkncense]

In December, when I was telling the world what an amazing film I'd just seen & that everyone had to see Brokeback Mountain, one of the people I told was a married male friend & former police officer.  Unlike another male officer friend, he did not step back from me while staring & shaking his head 'no' so I thought there was some hope there.

Well, he called me, first thing in the morning as I was just sitting down with a cup of coffee & said, "you'll never guess what I did."  Well, almost 7 1/2 months later I was not thinking it was about the film suggestion but it was.

He said, I had to call you!  "I watched Brokeback.  I was having some trouble in the first hour or so, kinda slow... (uh oh, I thought) but it was one of the best films I have EVER seen!"     "I would give it a solid 'A'.  Doesn't pass Pulp Fiction, but it's right up there in the top of my all-time list."

He went on to say (he'd also seen Crash, Munich, Capote...) "I CAN'T believe it didn't get the Oscar!  It's unbelievable.  And Heath - who won the Oscar - Capote?  My God, Heath was so powerful in that movie.  He deserved the Oscar absolutely".  - discussion ensued -

I hate to say it, but I was astonished    He is a huge film fan but he sounded just like a Brokie!!!  He talked about how he thought Jake died (he called them Heath & Jake throughout the conversation) and how much he thought Lureen knew (called her Anne); about Jake's mother & that she knew but he wasn't positive about the father; about how in the last scene w/ his daughter that Heath had finally realized how important love is!  And he's only seen it once.  Plus, he said he thought I was nuts that I'd seen it more than once (if he ONLY knew) but that he wanted to watch it again cause he may have missed some things!

He also said he wished he's seen it without having seen any of the trailers as he knew something bad was going to happen & kept waiting for that point.  He also praised Ang Lee for not "slamming you in the face with anything like they did with Crash."  He did admit that he was waiting for some kind of "preaching" scene too & was relieved that it was simply "their story."

I asked if he would recommend it to his straight male friends & he said he certainly would, but not to people that he already knew would be unreceptive (unlike me who just barreled ahead). - More discussion. -

He watched it with his wife & he said that he loved it more than her!  He also asked her if she would be more shocked if she saw him kissing a man or another woman.  (She said she wasn't sure but didn't think she'd be happy either way.)

I'm not exactly sure why, but I am just so happy right now!

[Andrew]

I know how happy that would make me, that a skeptic or naysayer became an enthusiast.  And remembered the conversation too and took the initiative to call me and tell me about it.  It's got to happen to me at least once.  Though there are so many people I don't seem to get to talk to at all about movies.  I hold back sometimes with people I 'know' won't like it.  And I am only disappointed when people I 'think' will, don't.  But we know so little of others' emotional make-ups.

[Aussie Chris]

Brilliant Silk.  How did you manage to stop yourself sounding smug?  Or did you?

Just wait until he sees it the second time, and rather than being comforted by the fact that he knows what's going to happen, everything in the "boring" first hour or so is that much more devastating, especially when the dozy embrace ensues!

[serious crayons]

he wanted to watch it again cause he may have missed some things!

Oh, how little he knows!!! 

That's great, Silk. I can see why you'd be excited. I have prompted exactly one person to see it -- one of my best friends, who went on to see it several more times and likes it but does not share a Brokie-level devotion. A few other friends have seen it and were in the "it's pretty good" (!!?!) camp. I have managed to talk a few people into appreciating it more than they otherwise would.

But nobody else I know has seen it, despite my glowing reviews. Or if they have, they haven't mentioned it to me. No other friends. Not my mother-in-law (my father-in-law is a lost cause). Not even my husband.

Am I that unpersuasive?!

Anyway, it's exciting when someone takes your advice and turns out to agree with you! Good going.

[Katie77]

Isn't it great when someone you know, and you have suggested to watch the movie, comes back with a review like your friend has....

Unfortunately, it seems, that in most cases that is NOT what happens and I am at a loss as to WHY???

I was talking to another brokie the other day, about the same thing, and I said, that sometimes, I think that brokies like us, have actually been selected....by whom I dont know, but I have this vision of a theatre full of people, watching the movie, and some higher being, is there tapping some of us on the shoulder, and thus enabling us to take the movie into our soul.

How many of us has had a movie do this to them before?.....how many of us had ever known about message boards, let alone, sought one out, before we saw this movie?.......

Why did it affect us like this, and not others?.....

Did someone pick us out so we would all meet up and become friends, did someone pick us out, because we would understand and maybe do something about the bigotry in our society.....did someone pick us out, because we were in need of something like this, in our life......?

I believe that I am special, because I was picked out, I believe that everyone else on this board is special too, and I believe, that there is a reason, why it was US.

[serious crayons]

Why did it affect us like this, and not others?.....

Did someone pick us out so we would all meet up and become friends, did someone pick us out, because we would understand and maybe do something about the bigotry in our society.....did someone pick us out, because we were in need of something like this, in our life......?

I believe that I am special, because I was picked out, I believe that everyone else on this board is special too, and I believe, that there is a reason, why it was US.

I know this analogy will sound ridiculous, but back in the late '70s, when I liked reading Stephen King novels, my favorite was "The Stand," which is about a biological-warfare disease getting loose from a research lab and quickly spreading around and killing most of the population -- except for a small diverse group of people from around the United States, the protagonists of the novel, who happen to be immune to the disease. After everyone else is dead, those chosen people all start having the same vision that leads them to Las Vegas, and while most of them are good, a few of them are evil, and there's this apocalyptic showdown ...

OK, so I don't think any of us are evil, and I have no particular desire to go to Vegas and engage in Armageddon. But in a way, it seems a little like that. They way all those millions of people saw the movie, but only WE saw its greatness ...

But even that sounds kind of freaky, I guess. 

[silkncense]

And I am only disappointed when people I 'think' will, don't.  But we know so little of others' emotional make-ups.

I have been disappointed too.  I told everyone that came into my line of sight (in dentist offices, in grocery lines, at work - I know, a bit much) that it was the greatest film ever, that I couldn't sleep, that it makes you think about your life... 

And then the reactions came in from friends /co-workers.  They'd watched it, but they didn't see it! 

So, I sought affirmation elsewhere...IMDb, PT & here  .  And I assume that's what brought others here - so, it is like that story - we have all been lead to a place togeather.  And maybe it is because of a need - something from our lives.  As I told one of the younger guys at work, maybe you just haven't had any fear or regret yet.

   

[serious crayons]

I started a thread on this a while back. While there were a lot of interesting ideas, I don't think any of them explained it once and for all.

There are a lot of great people here, but aside from our feelings about the movie/story I haven't noticed anything we have in common that we don't also have in common with some of the people I know who liked BBM but aren't obsessive about it. So it's still a complete mystery to me.

 

[Daphne7661]

On another message board, I had used the words "chosen ones" and got a bit blasted by some as being pompous, or possibly referring to myself and others as being "chosen" in a religious type of way, but I truly believe that, of all the people who have seen this movie, a group of us feel as though we "got it", hence Bettermost and all the other websites and message boards.

Honestly, I don't watch all that many movies.  I've never even heard of a "message board" before.  I came onto the Internet in search of some solace and to find out if I was going crazy...

Now I know I'm not, and feel safe and secure in the knowledge that I am a "Brokie" or "Brokaholic" or whatever title fits anyone who is obssessed with the story of Ennis and Jack, as I am, and we all are...

Love to All....

[ednbarby]

I've been profoundly moved by movies before.  But not to the extent that any of the characters have stayed with me for more than a few days afterwards.  More that they've made me examine my life and I've gone on to do some more of that without giving much more thought to the characters themselves.  But well before the Gyllenhaalism set in I was so devastated by these characters (really, at and after my second viewing is when it started) that I couldn't think about their fates without fighting back tears.  And I couldn't stop thinking about their fates.  I fell in love with both of them.  I still am and always will be.  I'll be driving by the big signs for "Boca Del Mar" and "Del Mar Avenue" and the "Del Mar Plaza" years from now and I won't be able to help but smile.  And I'll say things I've said for years like "I'm a sick twist" and "straight up with a twist" years from now and smile, too.  No matter what comes and goes, these characters will always be in my heart.  And that's never happened to me with any fictional character before and I doubt it ever will again.  Jesus H., nothing like this.