I think that there are many instances to apply a non-queer, heteronormative lens, there of course are many possibilities you could point to. However, through Macuso's lens, there are several points that are given as a queer film. I would argue the queering theme of split endings. The idea that one may not be able to be together in the end, seems to be a common thread in several of our queer films in class. The death of Jack in the film goes along with this notion. The entire journey of them not being able to be open and together because of society or the places in which they live, I would argue contributes to this ending that love does not conquer all, in which we have seen in such films like Heavenly Creatures.
I fully agree with this post. This film and the writing which it was based on could easily have fallen into the formula that heteronormative audiences are familiar with in dramas. Jack and Ennis have an incredibly complex relationship with each other that is not easily articulated if we read it in the context of heteronormativity and monogamy.
On the other hand, I do wonder how we could read their relationship in a way that does not simply reduce it to being tragic/a tragedy. The violence they experienced is real, homophobia is still widely present in individual, structural and institutional forms. But I wonder how we could potentially read the characters as simultaneously victims of violence, perpetrators of violence, complicit with violence, and resisting violence.