The first image we see is of a dead body, probably from a film of a concentration camp but, like every other archival image in this film, it does not fit into familiar paradigms. A skeletal, naked corpse of a man lies face up on the ground, arms and legs splayed out—the whole cadaver fills the screen. Where can we possibly go from here?

From time to time Film Quarterly has published special features on Hollywood films that have had a major influence on public opinion. In 1979 the film was The Deer Hunter, in 1991 Thelma & Louise. If any such recent film has merited similar treatment, it is surely Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain.

Special Issue on Brokeback Mountain, plus reviews of Volver, The Line of Beauty, Passio; and an interview with Fernando Perez

READ: Passio, and editor Rob White’s introduction to Brokeback