OUR LATEST ISSUE
Brokeback Mountain heads gay movie poll
Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger
Brokeback Mountain has been voted as the best gay film in a recent poll.
"Brokeback's victory is all the more poignant following Ledger's death in January this year"
Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, has recently won a poll of the Fifty Greatest Gay Movies. The film beat British creation Beautiful Thing and Shelter to first place by a huge margin of almost two-to-one.
Brokeback's victory is all the more poignant following Ledger's death in January this year, which prompted controversial rumours of drug use and foul play. Police have since denied these rumours, but media attention about the actor remains high, particularly after the release of Batman: The Dark Night.
An immediate hit in 2005, Brokeback Mountain won three Oscars, with Jake Gyllenhaal also receiving a Bafta for his portrayal of Jack Twist, who falls desperately in love with Ledger's character in possibly the most challenging role of the screenplay.
The film is still used today as an example of a universal gay love story - Cuban state television recently screened Brokeback in aid of the International Day Against Homophobia. Plans are in motion for an opera based on the movie to be composed and to premiere during New York City's 2013 opera season.
Gay lifestyle website AfterElton.com. who commissioned the poll, realise that what makes a movie 'great' is subjective, but believe it important to note that 'almost every movie on this list was new or different in some important way from all the gay films before it.' They hope that gay cinema will continue to produce masterpieces that will shape next year's film list.
