'Brokeback' conveys twisted view of sexuality

The movie “Brokeback Mountain” presents a distorted and unbiblical picture of human sexuality, said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, during a Jan. 17 appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live.” Mohler appeared alongside a panel of commentators to discuss the topic of homosexuality as it relates to the controversial Golden Globe Award-winning film. “Brokeback Mountain” tells the story of two cowboys from Wyoming who engage in a homosexual relationship despite the fact that both are married to women.The panel consisted of Mohler; Janet Parshall, host of the radio program “Janet Parshall’s America”; Chad Allen, an actor and homosexual activist; and Guy Padgett, the former mayor of Casper, Wyo., and an open homosexual.“The most important thing is that we understand that marriage is an objective reality,” Mohler said. “And it’s been honored that way throughout human history, I believe, because God did give it to us explicitly even in the act of creation.”The main problem with “Brokeback Mountain” is that it fails to explain why the main characters were created and how they can find fulfillment only in their Creator, Mohler said.“My main concern is not with the gospel of heterosexuality, even though I think that’s very important,” Mohler said. “It’s with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and what I find lacking in the movie, the screenplay and in the short story, is any resolution that really brings these persons to know why they were created and how God really intends them to live and how they would find their greatest satisfaction in living just as God had intended them for His glory.”Host Larry King sharply questioned both Parshall and Mohler as to why they were so critical of a film they had not seen. Mohler said he has read both the screenplay and the story upon which it is based, and made an intentional decision not to see the film.“If I had to see the movie to understand the storyline, I wouldn’t have come on [the program] to speak about it,” Mohler said. “I’m going to say something that is about as counter-cultural as I can imagine, and that is I’m actually convinced that as a Christian, there are certain things I don’t need to see. And that’s the reason why, as a matter of principle, I have not gone to see the movie. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to go see the movie. I’m unembarrassed to say that.”In response to Mohler, Allen, who plays Christian missionary Nate Saint in the upcoming movie “End of the Spear,” said his homosexuality is “a beautiful gift from god.”“I judge all of my actions by my relationship with [the] god of my understanding,” Allen said. “It is a deep-founded, faith-based belief in god based upon the work that I’ve done growing up as a Catholic boy and then reaching out to Buddhist philosophy, to Hindu philosophy, to Native American beliefs and finally as I got through my course with addiction and alcoholism and finding a higher power that worked for me.”When asked whether people choose to be homosexual, Mohler argued that all sexual sins involve choice but also involve deep human desires that are corrupted by sin.“I don’t doubt for a minute that there are millions of people who struggle with attractions to the same sex or other kinds of attractions that they don’t even know they ever chose,” Mohler said. “... When it comes right down to it, I, as a Christian, believe that we are all so deeply affected by sin that we don’t even know ourselves well enough to know why we desire the things we desire.”On the question of legalizing "gay marriage,” Padgett argued that while he would enjoy state recognition of his own homosexual relationship, the question of its legalization should be left up to state and local governments.


“I believe that this question needs to be left up to the people,” he said, “to the municipality, to the state, and I think efforts to define marriage at a national level by amending the Constitution is just wrong.”Mohler countered that he supports a federal marriage amendment “because I believe as a people, as a community, we need to honor what marriage is.”Parshall called "gay marriage" inconsistent with the Bible and harmful to any children homosexuals attempt to adopt.“When two people of the same sex get together and they decide to use the moniker of a marriage, I think it’s a grotesque misrepresentation,” she said. “And actually if that union decides that they want to then adopt children ... then I think what you have in many respects is state-sanctioned child abuse because you have purposely taken away either a momma or a daddy, and mom and dad are both necessary in a child’s life.”If homosexuals will repent of their sin and turn to Christ, said Mohler, they can enjoy a life that is far more fulfilling than living in sin.“I don’t want for homosexuals to know less joy than they know now,” he said. “I want them to know more joy, great joy, eternal joy. And I believe that can only happen as they come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and as they find out what God’s perfect intention and design was for their lives all along.”Responding to the assertion that God’s transcendent truth forbids homosexuality, Allen said transcendent truth tells him homosexuality is a “beautiful expression” of love.“If they’re going to speak about absolute, transcendent truth, I need to tell you, I know absolute, transcendent truth,” he said. “I have a deep relationship with god and my understanding. It’s very powerful, and it’s taken its own shape and form. And I am very much at peace in the knowledge that in my heart, god created this beautiful expression of my love.”The discussion of homosexuality must ultimately come back to the cross of Jesus Christ, Mohler said, arguing that all sinners can be made whole by believing in Christ.“We have a big task as Christians to articulate what is our most basic concern, and that is that on the cross, Christ died for sinners, heterosexual and homosexual, and the only way to be made whole is in Him, and that is more important than anything else I could possibly say.”

Brokeback Mountain Editor's note: This film depicts a homosexual relationship, and includes a graphic sex scene between the two men. After much discussion, Christianity Today Movies has decided to review the film despite its controversial subject matter. It has been nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards and will certainly be an Oscar contender. The film is a hot topic of conversation around the nation, and we'd be remiss to simply ignore it. Part of our mission statement is "to inform and equip Christian moviegoers to make discerning choices" about what films you'll watch—or won't watch. And this review, just like all of our reviews, certainly accomplishes that. As for the 3-star rating, that is only in reference to the quality of the filmmaking, the acting, the cinematography, etc. It is not a "recommendation" to see the film, nor is it a rating of the "moral acceptability" of the subject matter.It took eight years for Brokeback Mountain to make its way from the pages of The New Yorker to the big screen. Larry McMurty (Lonesome Dove) adapted the script from what was originally conceived as a short story by Annie Proulx, and Ang Lee finally took over the directorial reins after a couple of other helmers (Gus Van Sant and Joel Schumacher) took a pass. And while it's not unusual for a script to get stymied in production, it's undoubtedly true that, in this case, the central characters played a role in the delay—two cowboys who fall in love … with each other.Spanning 20 years, the relationship between Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) begins in 1963 when the two are given the job of watching sheep during a summer up on Wyoming's Brokeback Mountain. They're both gangly young Marlboro Men in the making—Jack with a boyish energy that belies his rodeo dreams and Ennis with a set jaw that rarely moves. Together they tend the sheep and make dinner and fall into the rhythms of life on the mountain. Loosened up by camaraderie and whiskey, Ennis becomes, if not exactly talkative, open. And he and Jack sit around the fire late into the night talking about their histories and hopes for their futures.When a cold night prompts the two to share a small tent, the physical intimacy that ensues is at first awkward and then almost desperate in its drive to be experienced. As an extension of their growing relationship, this first sexual encounter seems less than romantic. And, as they both assert the morning after, certainly neither man is "queer."But they're still drawn to each other. And where the romance was perhaps lacking at first, it begins to build steam as Jack and Ennis begin to look each other in the eyes—and want what they see. The men seem to be fumbling for each other, for any meaningful connection with one another—at turns kissing and hitting; tenderly caressing and drawing blood; loving and hating. It's a dance they would repeat for years to come.Ang Lee's varied body of work (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Sense and Sensibility; The Ice Storm; Hulk) remains cohesive largely in its reverence for landscapes. And here he adds the American West to his visual repertoire, reflecting the contours of the relationship between Jack and Ennis in the harsh brilliance of the natural world in which it takes place. Rodrigo Prieto's beautiful cinematography frames majestic but treacherous mountains rimmed with snow. Expansive blue skies that can rain down golf-ball sized hail. Pristine lakes that ward off would-be swimmers with their chill.And as their summer on the mountain ends, the scenery, and the world, closes in on the men. They go their separate ways. Four years pass before they see each other again, and in that time both marry and become fathers. Ennis swaps vows with Alma (Michelle Williams) and has two daughters. Jack gets roped by Lureen (Anne Hathaway), a Texas rodeo queen. Once the men do reunite, it's clear that Jack is simply biding time, hoping for a future with Ennis. Ennis, on the other hand, is resigned to his life with Alma. He's haunted by a childhood memory: the specter of a man he saw beaten to death for living with another man. He sees no viable scenario in which he and Jack can be together.

"If you can't fix it, you gotta stand it," says Ennis. He and Jack accomplish that by meeting up for "fishing trips" during which no fishing takes place. Over the course of these years, Jack is feeling perpetually jilted on his drives back home to Texas, while Ennis' efforts to resist his love for Jack turn him into an angry, bitter drunk who's always looking for a fight. Years fly by in which neither man is fully engaged with his family, while pining for a person he only sees sporadically. Their furtive love isolates them and makes their worlds smaller until they see no one but each other.But despite the intimacy these two want to share, there's a certain formalism between Jack and Ennis that stems from their seeming inability to admit, even to each other, who each of them is. A conversation late in the movie includes Jack referencing an affair he's supposedly having with a ranch foreman's wife when the audience knows that the affair is actually with the foreman himself. Ennis, in return, goes into a homophobic rage when Jack lets on that he goes down to Mexico for gay sex. It's likely the result of a number of factors, but both men are deeply unsettled by their homosexuality.The narrative's focus on Jack and Ennis means that the audience is left largely to guess at the painful ramifications the men's infidelities have on their families. It's the movie's greatest weakness that it never fully develops the wives' characters, and they're often relegated to clichés. After a big splash, Lureen becomes little more than a peroxide blonde prop whose true feelings about her husband are inscrutable. Michelle Williams is, thankfully, given more screen time, and her quivering heartbreak and eventual rage are among the most resonant emotions of the movie.But for all the potential messiness of a story about two married men who carry on an affair with each other, the movie maintains an emotional distance from its subject by focusing almost exclusively on the men involved, both of whom are characters trying to stuff their emotions to one extent or another. Brokeback Mountain creates vast plains of space for the audience to interpret Jack and Ennis' actions and the hopes and fears that motivate them. It's quite possible that no matter what the viewer believes about homosexuality, he or she will be able to read their own stance on the issue into this story.The film has already earned seven nominations for the Golden Globes, and multiple Oscar nominations are all but certain to follow. Ledger and Williams—who both earned Globes noms —especially stand out, both conveying reams of emotion with dialogue that probably only covers a few pages. But as much as Brokeback Mountain is being touted as a groundbreaking movie for its depictions of homosexuality, it is populated with people with conventional attitudes about homosexuality. And though it's presented as a story of thwarted love—of ache and longing and regrets—it's also ultimately a story about the relationships that shape us … for better and for worse.

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Christianity Today Discussion.

1.The tagline for Brokeback Mountain is, "Love is a force of nature." Do you agree? Do we get to choose whom we fall in love with? Do we get to choose our sexual orientation? Why or why not?

2. Scripture says homosexual sex is sinful (Lev. 18:22, 20:13; Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9-11). How should the church engage those who hold different beliefs about homosexuality? Should Christians expect all people to be heterosexuals? Why or why not? What does this mean for how Christians should treat gays?

3. Ennis' parents died when he was young. Do you think the loneliness he experienced as a child played into his attraction to Jack? If yes, how so? When he got married, why didn't Alma's love satisfy his need for companionship?

4. Do Ennis and Jack love each other because they're gay, or are they gay because they love each other? Explain. Had they never met, do you think one or both of them would have happily lived a heterosexual life? Why or why not? What does that say about the nature of sexual orientation?

5. Ennis and Jack determine that their bond is no one else's business. Can love—gay or straight—stay secret and be and/or remain healthy? Why or why not?

6. How should Christians approach films that depict gay relationships? What, if anything, can we learn from such movies? About the gay culture? About ourselves? Brokeback Mountain is rated R for sexuality, nudity, language and some violence. There's a graphic gay sex scene, and female nudity (showing breasts) in two other scenes. There are also brief but graphic scenes of violence. There's also plenty of coarse language.

Brokeback Mountain's ONLINE EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS FILM FEATURES GRAPHIC SEXUAL CONTENT. THIS REVIEW REFERENCES THAT CONTENT AND IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN. Star-crossed lovers. They've filled book pages and film frames for as long as those things have existed. Tristan and Isolde. Romeo and Juliet. Superman and Lois Lane. And now Ennis and Jack. Take everything you know about how love works (or doesn't work) when two people who are crazy about each other find themselves doomed to a life of separation by time, distance or culture—and remove the woman from the equation. What's left is Brokeback Mountain. Jack and Ennis are ranch-hand drifters who end up shepherding the same flock of sheep in the Wyoming wilderness around Brokeback Mountain in 1963. Their status of co-workers gives way to friendship. Friendship gives way to sex. When the summer is over they go their separate ways. Jack heads down to Texas on the rodeo circuit, marries Lureen and has a boy (not necessarily in that order). Ennis stays in Wyoming, marries Alma and has two girls. But the men can't get over each other, despite the fact that Ennis insists it's a "one-shot thing." So about four years after their Brokeback "excursions," Jack finds Ennis, and the two revive their relationship. Jack wants to shack up and settle down with Ennis. Ennis is too worried about what the neighbors might think. (It is the 1960s and '70s, after all.) So they continue their separate lives, punctuating their painful existence with giddy sexual flings the pair dubs "fishing trips." What follows is a slow disintegration of not only their own lives, but the lives of everyone they touch. Usually it's a negative thing when people give in to the societal norms around them and give up on their dreams, refuse to step across racial divides, etc. But here, Ennis' reluctance to live with Jack is a good example of how established—biblical—morality within a culture can help people make right decisions. It could be argued that Ennis' reluctance is rooted in mortal fear. After all, he did witness the aftermath of a hate crime when he was a boy. But there's more to it than that. The social pressure he feels to marry a woman isn't shown to be directed at him maliciously or aggressively. (And it isn't even a pressure so strong that it keeps him from repeatedly having sex with Jack.) In an interview with Plugged In Online, Caleb H. Price, a social research analyst on homosexuality and gender for Focus on the Family, identified several other ways the film, sometimes unwittingly, hints at the dangers of homosexuality. "Contrary to the nearly ubiquitous modern portrayals of homosexuality, in Brokeback Mountain the lifestyle is neither glamorous nor normal and healthy," he said. "We see that each character had root causes to his same-sex attraction. And then we see their God-given desires to be affirmed by members of the same sex met in sinful, ungodly ways. We see the soul ties that come along with carnal relations and the ensuing devastation to wives and marriages when the forbidden fruit is eaten. Also, the film clearly depicts the homosexuality of the characters as bondage. In one scene Jack exclaims profound exasperation that he and Ennis are not able to 'quit' each other. One can't help but wonder what their respective lives might have been like had they poured their energy and attention into their wives, families and careers instead of homosexuality." Elsewhere, Jack stands up (albeit crudely) for his wife and kids when Lureen's father acts like a bully and undermines his daughter's authority in front of her children. Jack and Ennis talk about their religious backgrounds; one was Pentecostal, the other Methodist. Jokes are made about going to heaven or "marching off to hell" on that "great day." A crack is made about the "fire-and-brimstone" crowd. Ennis and Alma are married in a Christian ceremony. The sexual interaction shared by Jack and Ennis is usually rough-and-tumble. Newsweek calls it "fierce and full-blooded." There's lots of pushing, shoving, grappling and holding. In fact, one bit of foreplay/horseplay gets so physical that it ends up in a short-lived fistfight.

Several scenes show the two men groping each other and kissing. (Half the time it looks more like forceful mashing than kissing.) Once, the camera keeps staring as kisses give way to anal sex. (There's no nudity shown, but the sequence is explicit; it includes sexual motions and sounds.) Ennis and Jack both have heterosexual sex, too. Ennis and Alma get physical twice. Both scenes are graphic; one includes breast nudity. The day they meet, Jack and Lureen make out and prepare to go further. Lureen is so eager to make it happen that she strips off her shirt and bra to show Jack (and moviegoers) her breasts. But those straight relationships are shown to ultimately matter little to Jack and Ennis. They just can't wait to cheat on their wives when the opportunities present themselves. Also, we see Jack washing his clothes—all of them. (He's seen nude from the side and back.) Jack and Ennis jump naked into the water for a swim (seen from a distance). Ennis is the cool-as-a-cucumber type who wouldn't hurt a fly ... until you push him too far. Then he'll crush you. In just such a rage he grabs Alma's arm and raises his fist to her. He doesn't strike her. Instead he races out of the house and pummels the first guy he sees. That guy is no pushover, though, and the result is an intense exchange of blows. Earlier, at a Fourth of July picnic, Ennis socks a guy for swearing in front of his kids. And after parting ways with Jack, Ennis hits a wall in anger and frustration a couple of times. There's graphic talk about a man being mutilated and murdered. Onscreen, that man's corpse is seen, and another man is beaten to death. A bear spooks Ennis' horse, which responds by bucking him off. A disemboweled sheep carcass is seen. Ennis shoots an elk for food. About two-dozen f-words and half that many s-words. Ennis yells the f-word, among other things, at his wife—in front of their kids. God's name is combined with "d--n" 10 or more times; Jesus' name is abused at least three times. Crude anatomical slang is used to describe women. And other milder profanities are said. More often than not Jack and Ennis are sucking on cigarettes and/or booze. Many of the other characters smoke and drink, too. Several scenes take place in bars. A tangential downside to the film is that it could have the effect of making wives suspicious of husbands who have good male friends. After watching this movie, old-fashioned male bonding exercises such as fishing, hunting and camping feel like nothing more than weak excuses for nefarious "hook ups." Playwright and Wyoming native Sandy Dixon pointed out to the Casper Star Tribune that the film will also have an affect on how people perceive American history. Directing her words at the filmmakers she said, "Don't try and take what we had, which was wonderful—the cowboys who settled [Wyoming] and made it what it was—don't ruin that image. ... There's nothing better than plain old cowboys and the plain old history without embellishing it to suit everyone." Taiwanese director Ang Lee (who has made his mark on America with a diverse repertoire which includes The Hulk, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Sense and Sensibility and The Ice Storm) certainly doesn't soft-sell the damage done by the choices Jack and Ennis make. But you don't walk away from Brokeback Mountain thinking about the destructiveness of acting on homosexual temptations. Rather, you're left with the idea that these cowboy-lovers would have experienced none of this pain if only social and moral norms had allowed them to pursue their passion from the get-go. The only reason Ennis' marriage ends in divorce, teaches the film, is because he never should have been married ... to a woman. The only reason Jack treks down to Mexico to enlist the services of a gay prostitute is because he doesn't get enough face time with his true love, Ennis. And the only reason he doesn't get that time with Ennis is because society won't let them be together. That's a powerful message far too many people are accepting, as evidenced by the thunderous applause I heard swelling around me when the credits began to roll. Newsweek's Sean Smith writes, "Brokeback feels like a landmark film. No American film before has portrayed love between two men as something this pure and sacred. As such, it has the potential to change the national conversation and to challenge people's ideas about the value and validity of same-sex relationships." Similarly, Neil G. Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, told the San Francisco Chronicle, "I think it will be as groundbreaking for gay relationships as Philadelphia was in tackling AIDS issues. It will be moving for anyone who is open to seeing the challenges and difficulties of what, at that time and even for many today, is the self-imposed and society-imposed necessity to live dishonestly." Lee is a skillful moviemaker and storyteller. And his film is crammed with emotionally compelling scenes and three-dimensional characters. His cast members, especially Michelle Williams in her supporting role as an exiled wife, give it their all. And, to be trivial for a moment, the scenery is sensational. But in the words of Ennis, "Ain't no reins on this one." Woven into his artistically masterful tapestry is the message that homosexual relationships don't work because society won't leave them alone long enough for them to mature. "When two people love each other, they love each other. And people should hold on to it as hard as they can, whether it's homosexual or heterosexual," star Jake Gyllenhaal told reporters at the Toronto Film Festival. He's partly right. But if he's talking about the kind of love shared onscreen by Jack and Ennis, he's conflating the meanings of the words love and lust. The Bible doesn't isolate "love" to male-female relationships. It calls men to love other men, and women to love other women. (Look at the connection David had with Jonathan in 1 Samuel 19-20 and the bond Jesus had with John in John 13 for a biblical reference point. Also relevant are 1 Peter 1, 1 John 2 and John 15.) What it condemns is turning brotherly or sisterly love into sexual love—a form of love God reserves for a man and woman who have embraced the gentle bonds of marriage. That sexualization of love—and our growing cultural acceptance of it—is gradually making valid, chaste love between two men or two women harder and harder to accomplish. (Read 1 Corinthians 6, Romans 1, John 1, 2 Peter 2-3 and Leviticus 18-20.) For its part in this larger spiritual issue of relationships, Brokeback Mountain takes the love Jack and Ennis share and triumphantly turns it into lust. As Gyllenhaal said, "They're two men having sex. There's nothing hidden there." Then it blames human intolerance for the inevitable fall-out.

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‘Brokeback' Conviction
By Gary Schneeberger

The "gay cowboy" movie everybody is talking about is a reminder of what we're called to do as Christians —and how we're called to do it.It's been a little more than a month now since I saw "Brokeback Mountain," the "gay cowboy" movie that continues to generate headlines — on front pages as well as entertainment pages — and I've been feeling morally superior ever since.Why? Mostly because of one scene, in which the lead characters reunite several years after their initial tryst atop the mountain of the movie's title. Ennis (Heath Ledger) runs to greet Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal), and is so overcome that he pulls him into a stairwell and kisses him passionately. Even though the duo thinks they're out of eyeshot, Ennis' wife catches a glimpse of their embrace — and director Ang Lee's camera lingers on her devastated reaction.That reaction, in the Denver theater in which I saw the film, was greeted with a mix of laughter and applause from the largely-gay audience that shared the auditorium with me (and I've heard and/or read similar reports from across the country). That's been the fuel for my feelings of moral superiority.How on earth, I've wondered, could anybody find that scene funny or — worse — something to cheer? Is adultery, and the punch in the gut it delivers to the one being cheated on, perfectly acceptable so long as the adulterer is "being true to himself"? Is fulfilling their own selfish desires, no matter who gets hurt, the only thing homosexuals care about? I mean, gay, straight, sideways, diagonal, convex — I don't care what your orientation is, if you respond to a scene like this in a manner like that, you've forfeited your claim to the moral high ground in any cultural argument. Ever.It's only been in the last couple of days that I've realized where this kind of thinking had illogically led me: to the conclusion that I have all the moral high ground. And it's only been in the last several hours, as I've wrestled with getting these thoughts out of my head and onto the computer screen, that I've realized how dangerous —and shameful — such thinking is.In the cultural and policy battles we fight every day, particularly on issues like the normalization of homosexuality and the availability of abortion, it's easy to take on airs of superiority like those I've been wearing. Maybe it's because we have the truth of Scripture on our side; maybe it's because we're fallen human beings prone to arrogance and pride and every other sin under the sun — just like those on the other side of the ideological aisle. Most likely, it's a combination of the two.Whatever causes it, though, there is no disputing it cripples our witness for Christ — no matter how we wind up faring on the Culture War scorecard. A victory won gracelessly or gloatingly is no victory at all; even if we eventually succeed in making abortion no longer legal, what have we really accomplished for the Kingdom if our tactics and attitudes drive the people who most need God further away from him?To watch a film like "Brokeback Mountain" and react the way I did does not please the Lord. He loves those who laughed at that tragic scene I described earlier precisely as much as He loves me. He longs to heal their hearts. If I hope to be a tool He uses to do so, and that ought to be my goal as someone who has felt called to work at a Christian ministry, I've got to do more than sniff at the insensitivity and immaturity of those gay men and women I watched the movie with. I've got to do more than be disgusted at the subject matter of the film. I've got to consider why they laughed — and, in the larger context, why they view this film as such a watershed moment for themselves and their movement.I am fortunate to work each day alongside men and women who grasp these basic, but crucial, truths better than most. The Love Won Out team, led by Mike Haley, reaches out daily to scared and confused people like the characters in "Brokeback Mountain." Sometimes it's men and women struggling with their own same-sex attractions; sometimes it's the friends and family members of those men and women. But every time, the counsel and the prayer Mike and his team offer is authentically, unrelentingly Christlike. They extend love and hope to those told by the world their only choice is to love a life of hopelessness.

I've always admired my Love Won Out friends, but I've been convicted of my need to better emulate them now that I've seen "Brokeback Mountain." It'd be a lie to say I enjoyed the movie, but an ever greater one to say I'm not grateful I saw it

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