Cowboys Miss Out
From: Townsville Bulletin
By Danny Mortison

January 11, 2006


IT is all about cowboys in love but Australia's real cowboy country will not get to see the release of the latest Heath Ledger movie Brokeback Mountain this month ... or next month for that matter.

In fact, the cowboy bastions of Queensland around Rockhampton and Townsville and further west will have to wait and see if they get the movie at all.

The reviews to date have been sensational and Ledger, who plays lead character Ennis Del Mar, has been nominated for an Oscar.

The epic American love story is based on a short story written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx about a rangehand and a rodeo cowboy who meet in 1963 and unexpectedly forge a lifelong relationship.

The film stirred controversy in the US, where it has been banned in two American states for condoning gay love.

Townsville residents will have to travel to Cairns or Mackay to see what the controversy is all about.

But local movie operators said Townsville was not following America's lead in banning the film for its portrayal of homosexual activity.

The movie will not be seen in Townsville because of its limited release status, not its content, according to Reading Cinemas marketing manager Chloe Akacich.

"The movie premieres in Melbourne tonight (Tuesday) but will be restricted to theatres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and possibly Perth," Ms Akacich said.

"After it has run its seasons with the major theatres Australian Roadshow may distribute it to outer regions, but it is more than likely not coming to Townsville."

Birch, Carroll and Coyle cinema marketing manager Chantelle Anderson said the only northern cities to get the release on her circuit were Cairns and Mackay.

"We will have the latest Steven Spielberg movie Munich instead, which will probably be a bigger movie all round," Ms Anderson said.

Townsville's independent theatre Warrina Cineplex so far does not have any plans to run Brokeback Mountain but may try to get it closer to the Academy Awards in March.

The film includes intimate scenes between the two men as they explore their forbidden love.

It is those scenes that earned the movie an 'O' rating for offensive material by the influential Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Following the meeting, two cinemas - one in Utah's Salt Lake City and another in Washington - have decided not to show the film on moral grounds.

And while Salt Lake City is the home base for America's conservative Mormon population, one local newspaper noted that other new movies with R-rated content, such as the marijuana-fuelled comedy Grandma's Boy and the horror movie Hostel, had opened in the city on schedule.

Despite the criticism, ABC film reviewers David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz have both predicted Brokeback Mountain would be the best film of the year and have given it five stars each.

"For me, this is an absolutely perfect film in every way. So moving and so wonderfully done," Ms Pomeranz said.

Speaking from Melbourne last night at the movie's national premiere, Ledger, 26, said the decision to ban the film was immature and unnecessary.

"It's all just really unnecessary," Ledger said.

"Personally I don't think the movie is (controversial) but I think maybe the Mormons in Utah do. I think it's hilarious and very immature of a society. If two people are loving . . . I think we should be more concerned if two people express anger in love, than love. This talk is all a waste of energy."

A real life love affair blossomed during the making of the film, with Ledger meeting his girlfriend Michelle Williams on the Brokeback Mountain set. They have since had a child, Matilda Rose.

- with AAP

*Mr. Ledger's opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of HeathHeathens or its Adminiatration.