Rod Dreher Likes It, He Really Likes It!

Brokeback Mountain, that is. This editorial with Rod Dreher endorsing Brokeback Mountain as a work of art was both surprising and also welcome (I like to see people who will find out for themselves if it seems indicated).

My friend Victor Morton turned me around. On his "Right-Wing Film Geek" blog (www.cinecon.blogspot.com), Victor wrote a long, impassioned post that said, in effect, Don't believe the 'Brokeback' hype, from either side! The film is good, not great, Victor argued, but what makes it worthwhile is its fidelity to the tragic truth of its characters, not its usefulness to anybody's cause.

Intrigued, I found on the Internet a link to the Annie Proulx short story on which the movie is based and was shocked by how good it was, especially at embodying the "concrete details of life that make actual the mystery of our position here on earth" – Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor's description of what true artistry does. Though director Ang Lee's tranquil style fails to capture the daemonic wildness of Ms. Proulx's version, I came away from the film thinking, this is not for everybody, but it really is a work of art.

Will I go see it? Nope. I don't like sad stories and I often don't care about "art." Do go read the entire editorial. Free registration is required but don't let that stop you.

UPDATE
Tom Kelley likes Rhonda Lugari's referral for this article so well that he urges me to put it on the main blog ... so here ya go!