Best Picture: Who Should Win/Who Will Win
March 3rd, 2006
Author: JuliaWill Win: I did not love Brokeback Mountain. There, I said it. It was good – not amazing. I liken Brokeback Mountain to the English Patient. When I watched both of them, I recognized that I was seeing a good film with great cinematography. However, I also recognized that my seat was becoming increasingly uncomfortable because I was ready for the film to end. I left the theatre thinking, “That will win the best picture Oscar” not “Seeing that movie has changed how I see the world.”
I get it. Jack and Ennis are in love and are forced to deny their love by their own and society’s fear of homosexuals. This is a great message, but it didn’t need to be told over two hours and thirteen minutes. The movie is based on an Annie Proulx short story, yet, it has been stretched out so much that it has lost resemblance to the original. I think Brokeback could have easily eliminated a half hour of Ennis and Jack staring at each other, and staring into space. Nevertheless, I still have no doubt that Brokeback will take home the Oscar. Brokeback will win for the same reason that Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner won in 1967. Brokeback takes a lighting rod topic and makes it palpable for a mass audience. Like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, it also does so in a unique and somewhat thought-provoking way.
Should Win: Capote or Good Night, and Good Luck
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no offense but Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner did NOT and I repeat NOT win for best picture. The great K. Hepburn won best actress and it won for best original screenplay. Nothing else.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner didn’t win Best Picture. You’re right though, Brokeback did feel long and uncomfortable.
I agree with Julia completely. That movie was too damned long. I would have gotten the point if they cut it to 3/4 of its length. I was antsy and bored an hour and a half in. I felt the same way about Dr Zhivago. Politically, I am glad the film has received critical acclaim, just because it is always good to stick it to ignorant bigots, but if it had been a similar film about a man and a woman, one rich one poor, it would not have gotten nearly this much acclaim. That just demonstrates the political dimension of its popularity. Even if it wins, it will not stand the test of time, much like Look Who’s Coming to Dinner can now be seen as a mediocre, almost made-for-TV quality movie. Movies whose popularity is largely a matter of politics are not timeless classics, and the Best Picture should stand the test of time.
Boys Don’t Cry, which touched on related themes, was much better. I think people are scared to say they didn’t like Brokeback because the conflate cinematic quality with political message. I liked the politics of the movie, but did not find it impressive as cinema.
It felt like they were stretching a one hour movie into a 2+ hour movie, and they did. The short story is, indeed, quite short.
If you believe in the power of the message behind Brokeback Mountain, then you should understand
the necessity of the film’s length. The difficulty in Ennis and Jack being together, which is
fueled by society’s disapproval, affects them personally in such a way that prevents them from
jumping into a relationship in the normal sense. That’s why you have moments of one character
“staring at the other.” Remember, Ennis and Jack are bewildered by their own feelings toward
each other, just as many of us still may be. To consummate the relationship is a shorter amount
of time would be cheap and unrealistic. As for the rest of the movie, it illustrates the problems
encountered by these characters on a grand scale – not only how they affect them, but also the
people around them. In a way, it is the perfect blend of epic movie-making, mixed in with the
everyday realism that allows us to relate to and fully embrace these tragic figures. The beauty
of this film is that it makes us ask ourselves a simple, but important question: do we want to
live in a world where two people who want to and should be together cannot because of society’s
brutal intolerance? Th shocking image of the climax will stay with you forever. That’s the stuff
Best Picture winners are made of.