Selling Brokeback in Latin America

Martha I've seen a lot of posters while visiting my parents down south, that favor a shot of Jack cradling his new-born son with his wife, which by the way wasn't actually shown in the movie. I saw it twice in San Diego.
I can't put it any better than someone named "Jet in Columbus" did, so I'll copy and paste his review from another page in this forum and except for the teenaged son and the many neighbors, it applies to me too, but rather than plagerize it, I'll admit to copying it instead................he wrote
Brokeback Mountain is not for everyone. It has no mincing fairies, no comic-relief lisping queens, and absolutely no preaching or hidden messages or agendas. In fact the main character-Ennis is probably one of the most "manly" men ever seen in a movie.

Two young men, a ranch hand, and a up-and-coming rodeo bull rider, (the very definition of the word “cowboys”) are so down on their luck, that they’re forced to do something no cowboy wants to do-herd sheep over the summer on Brokeback Mountain.

Straight men who see this movie identify with them… and there lies the problem. The movie hits a little too close to home. Jack and Ennis regularly go camping in the wilderness, were brought up to own guns and know how to use them well, hunt elk and wild game, fish, carry hunting knives and know how to survive in the forest on their own. They own dogs, love life on horseback, tend cattle, ride bulls in rodeos, live on ranches, date women, father children, drink whiskey and beer, get into bar fights, and own and repair old pick-up trucks.

The two men never planned to fall into the situation they find themselves in, and have no idea how to react to it themselves. They don’t even know words to describe their feelings-Ennis can only call it “This thing”. When the summer ends, they go back to ranching, herding cattle and horses, competing in the rodeo, selling farm equipment and existing in the standard cowboy life, fathering children, attending church and Fourth of July celebrations, and arguing with their wives.

As for the explicit sex scene-Huh???? Oh, there’s nudity, and it’s ALL between the husbands and their wives. In the intimate scenes between the men-hell they’re never shown with their jeans off, and only one is shirtless! If all you attend a movie for is sex scenes, you’ll be better satisfied being straight, gawking at the women in their sexy attire and total nudity during the sex scene. The sex between the men is done in classic Alfred Hitchcock fashion and you’ll swear you saw more than you actually did, because it’s left to your imagination. If you see it a second time you’ll be astonished that no sexual contact is actually shown at all-except what you “thought” you saw!

And there lies the proof. This movie is just a damned good simple love story, and anyone too scared to see it, is probably so unsure of their own sexuality, that they feel determined to review a movie they’ve never seen, and probably never will. In fact if the two fictional characters in it actually lived, their wives would probably have to drag them kicking and screaming into the theater and tie them to a seat! Which is what my wife almost had to do to get me to see it.
I was so moved; I took my teen-aged son to see it the next evening. I took my neighbor and family again that weekend, my wife’s taken her co-workers, and so have I.

If ever a movie made you walk in someone else’s shoes, this is it.

So go grab your masculine pride, your wife/girlfriend to put on your arm to prove you’re straight, and be prepared to sit in an audience of people-straight people, just like you and me, and be shocked at how a whole theater of us can laugh, and then cry while seeing a damned good movie… Just remember to wipe your eyes before the lights come up in case someone sees.

As you leave for your car, you’ll know undoubtedly, why the two shirts worn by Jack and Ennis brought in $101,100.51 (!) recently at auction to benefit a children’s charity.

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"The reality of the situation is that audiences in the US are incredibly open to homosexuality in the movies"

Uhm, no, not really. Sure, compared to Latin America maybe, but not compared to most well-developed European countries..

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This just proves how unscrupulous studios can be. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that they have totally misled the audience on the plot of movies; I remember at least thre or four. In Radio Flyer they made people believe that the movie was an uplifting childhood adventure when in reality it dealt with child abuse.

If they think that they won't get much of a return on Brokeback in Latin America, they should just show it in art houses and advertise truthfully. In any case, they do know that there are movie critics in Latin American TV, newspapers and the net and that enterntainment news from the USA makes it down there in real time, don't they?

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Hola from Buenos Aires,

This city has a well-earned reputation of being gay-friendly and any homophobia has been quieted by the handsome rewards of the gay-turism industry!!

Here the movie was advertised in much the same way as in the USA, the gay content was clearly stated, it was part of the marketing.

Being unconcerned with showing they are NOT homophobic (a permanent Hollywood preocupation) the porte?(BA residents) summarily canned the movie for being a "long boring Malboro commercial".

Saludos,

Jose

PS: Crash´s win restored my faith in academy voters, because my take is that the are not homophobic, but that they are just mature enough that their vote did not automatically have to go to the gay movie. Take Susan Saradon and Tim Robbins, currently over here for the Mar del Plata Film Festival, they publicly claim to have voted for "Good Night and Good Luck".

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Jos?s right. Here (Buenos Aires) everybody knows what the movie is about. Even the title they use (translation would be "Secret on the mountain") and the picturese they chose for the posters.

Mainstream critics (bestseller papers and magazines) gave the movie the "great love story" treatment, with "very good" and "four stars" ratings.

Not many "average" men went to see it; the usual reaction is "I don't care about people being gay, I just don't like to see two guys kissing".

That's why you usually see mostly girls on the lines ont the theater, with guys only in big groups of male and female friends, a few men who went alone (and I'm sure they will not tell their buddies), and some gay couples.

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Hola from Lima, Per?r>Like the guys from Bs. Aires said, the movie was released here with both titles, the original and the spanish one ("Secret on the mountain").
I didnt see any gay person in the theater watching the film, if that counts as latino macho antigay attitude, well then there you have it =P
Nah, seriously, the most that could happen, and it actually happened when I saw the film, was to hear a bunch of girl giggling when the 'cowboys' kissed and whatnot. But the same way guys will smirk or make some remark while seeing two chicks making out.
Of course most of the guys will not be proud of saying 'yea I went by myself to see Brokeback'. But I'm sure that doesnt only happens in 'Latinoam?ca' and M?co, too =P

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As you Americans always put Latins in the same sack.
And I guess the best comparison you have is to talk about what Mexican do.
Anyway, I am writing from the end of the world, that's Chile. As far as I have seen I can tell you that the movie has been very much welcome. I have seen it three times. Every time I have gone to buy a ticket there has been thousand of people in the line. There was one time that I have to wait for the last show at around midnight night.
The premiere of the movie was Feb 26, so it has been shown all this time.
Thanks

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Well, I can not comment about the movie because I have not seen yet, but here in Mexico City I think almost all people know about the content, two cowboys in love, two weeks ago I went to the cinema and the quee for Brokeback Mountain was certainly crowded, a lot of women were there but a lot of men too.

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"Advertising in that region is carefully avoiding the gay elements of the film"
- Same tactics were used in US Media. I remember the first reactions of many people in the US complaining about the movie posters, specially the ones the show the two straight couples, which they considered misleading. Mexican society is conservative but they don't see fundamentalists like Pat Robertson or all the anti-gay fanatics trying to "get rid of" homosexuals.

"Additionally, based on a recommendation by Focus Features, Videocine, the film's Mexican distributor, is not advertising the movie in gay publications."
You're actually wrong. Videocine started a campaign on E Magazine and E-Radio about two months before the movie's release in Mexico. Videocine, some Mexico City cafe and E-Radio had a photo contest: 'First Gay Photography Contest: Brokeback Mountain' (The topic of contest was gay love between two cowboys.)

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