Brokeback Mountain: A Telling Story

For me, this was one of the most telling stories about reactions to Brokeback Mountain (story by Sean Smith from Newsweek, Nov. 21, 2005 issue, link below):

Two weeks ago, Ang Lee showed his new film to an audience in Los Angeles, and afterward he stuck around to answer questions from the crowd. Director Q&As are pretty common in the movie industry, and Lee ... has done more than his share. But something strange happened this time—the same thing that happens almost every time Lee screens "Brokeback Mountain." "People don't have many questions," he says. "Most of the time, they just stand up and tell me how they feel." When they're still crying, he already knows.

When film industry types, as jaded as they're reputed to be, are crying in the presence of their colleagues at the end of a movie, that's certainly a sign that this is not just another movie. Not just another gay movie; not just another romance; but something special, something beyond the norm, something transcendent, something of depth, something transformative.