Reviewing Movies

Annie Proulx has written a short story about a love affair between a pair of cowboys in Wyoming where gay boys get beaten to death. Polite society has tried to avoid dealing with the love that dare not say its name for centuries. What do we think was the service provided by cabin boys and midshipman on 5-year ocean voyages. What was the relationship between Charles Darwin and his sea captain friend on the Beagle. That between Lewis and Clark on their trip across America. What went on between pubescent Cowboys during those long cattle drives. As couples have demonstrated for centuries not all relationships are based on sex.

It is interesting that Jack Twist initiated this coupling but it is Ennis Del Mar who is the top in this relationship. A man of few words Ennis is the realist while Jack is the dreamer. Hetero marriage by gay men for years has been a common cover-up for activities that could land one in jail or worse. Indiscreet behaviour could ruin reputations and even get you killed. It is a terrible irony that the AIDS epidemic occurred shortly after gay liberation brought gays out of the closet.

Small comfort for this couple who confined their couplings to the remote wilderness. Denial and self-loathing are an all-too common consequence. Ennis drifts from one dead-end job to another his wife divorcing him; Jack in high-risk behaviours with both sexes that eventually gets him killed.