With a small amount of trepidation, I walked into the theatre with my spouse to see this film yesterday evening. Once I got past the gratuitous/obligatory homophobic case of the heebie jeebies, I settled in and realized why this picture is being nominated for awards left and right. It is an excellent movie. And homosexuality is not even particularly "central" to the theme. Brokeback Mountain is a love story. And it's a sad one. I noted above that the "gay" component of this film is not central to it because lots of love stories are sad. Romances between people fail to flourish or "succeed" for any host of reasons. This is not a human experience limited to queers. The doomed nature of this relationship is as much a result of the choices the protagonists make as it is of the unwillingness of many in larger society to accept gay couples and relationships. The performances by both lead actors, particularly Ledger, were sensitive and not over the top. Ledger's character was truly the most haunted/conflicted by the relationship the pair develops as young men. The price of the tickets to Brokeback Mountain were a good investment and I'm glad I saw the movie. I left the theatre feeling rather sad for the fates of both characters and the story I saw has had me thinking all day. 