brokeback mountain (spoilers!)

just watched brokeback mountain! i must say it's quite an impactful movie, if only because heath ledger and jake gyllenhall totally immersed us audiences into their characters. so much so that i probably won't be able to watch another of their movies again without getting reminded of homosexuality.

i won't say that there was much of a storyline, but maybe that was the point of the whole movie as well -- that the lives of these two lonely cowboys, apart from their occasional trysts on brokeback mountain, are just totally unfulfilled, confused and lost. i'm sure lots of us have our own little skeletons in our closets, and this movie really brings to light the danger of letting them become obsessions that then fester and consume us, until we find ourselves not so different from heath ledger's character ennis at the end of the movie. his words, "Jack, I swear..." omg that just tears me apart man. is he blaming jack for the state of his life now? is he cursing how jack just left him for good without even a word? but then look at the tenderness with which he buttons up that bloodstained shirt -- is he just saying that he'll never be able to forget what they shared between them? well i guess it'd be all of that.

i don't think any of my friends felt offended or uncomfortable watching this movie, because in the end, it's just a great tragic story of forbidden love that of course has the power to transcend all cultural taboos and apprehensions and all that... it could have been between two rabbits for all i cared. just an interesting note -- the writer of the original short story that this movie was based on commented that anyone who's confident and comfortable about his/her sexuality would have no trouble viewing this film, and that people like jack and ennis would probably be the ones who cannot bear to see it.

anyway, loved the film. of course crash was told much better and deserved the oscar, but this is definitely a very very memorable movie.

Ignorance = Bliss

Would you rather find out after knowing a person for a few years that he/she is an asshole? Or would you rather find out right at the start and thank the gods that you were smart enough to steer clear? People always tell me things like "I knew he/she was a horrible person the moment I saw him/her!" but I beg to differ. I believe that people are what you make of them.... if you choose to see the good in someone, and choose to bring it out, it really doesn't matter what others think. If you are friends with someone whom other people shun, it doesn't mean that you're stupid, it just means that the rest of them can't see the full picture.

I believe that avoiding people with certain "undesirable" characters only says that you are afraid, that you don't think you can cope, that you're only capable of living with a select bunch of people. Being elitist is not a sign of sophistication, it's a sign of cowardice.

So too everyone who's hesitating to be a friend, please step out of your comfort zone and put a smile on your face the next time you talk to that obnoxious colleague of yours. Cos you never know when it'd be the other way round for you :)