Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain (2005) - 9/10

First Viewed: 4/4/08
Directed by Ang Lee
Cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto
Starring Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar, Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist, Michelle Williams as Alma, Anne Hathaway as Lureen Newsome

The consensus seems to be that Brokeback Mountain is "that gay cowboy movie." I remember my classmates back in high school snickering at this concept, though one of my "artsy" acquaintances, who was probably the only person in my school who had actually seen the movie, merely said that he found the editing bothersome.

The film is leisurely-paced and meditative, spending the first forty minutes of its running time focusing on two cowboys who are hired to lead a herd of sheep through the Brokeback Mountain region in Wyoming during the 1960's. Ennis (Heath Ledger), with a hushed, gravelly voice, has a chiseled face that hints at the toll of putting up a facade while Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal), with a boyish face and a lustful glint in his eyes, is the more genial - and flirtatious - of the two. After spending weeks in the wilderness in each others' company, the pair inexplicably grows closer, culminating in a violent explosion of passion in their cramped tent.

Unfortunately, they run into trouble when they have to return to civilization, go their separate ways, and start a family. Despite the facades they have put up, Enice and Jack cannot stay apart from each other. They go on "fishing trips" while leaving their wives behind to care for their kids. Instead of focusing exclusively on the characters' homosexuality, an aspect that could have easily devolved into cliches, Ang Lee elevates the two men's story to a general allegory about the power of love and its capacity to both create and destroy lives.

Society plays an integral role, no less in 1970's Wyoming, in defining what kind of behavior is acceptable. But Ang Lee assumes that the audience is already aware of this society's norms and instead chooses to focus on how individuals' decisions make and destroy relationships. While society is responsible for Ennis having to resort to running into the wilderness in order to spend time with Jack, he is equally culpable for abandoning his family to fulfill these desires. There is a particularly emotional scene where Ennis' ex-wife, Alma (Michelle Williams), confronts him about his homosexuality. Ledger and Williams are both incredible in playing, respectively, the ashamed man and the confused woman, and the scene inevitably ends with both parties feeling betrayed.

The rest of the film, which could have been trimmed while retaining its impact, portrays Ennis as a burnt-out cowboy living in a trailer while Jack, whose wife's father is a rich tractor manufacturer, uses his wealth to hide his insecurities. These two men, as a result of societal and personal pressures, essentially become empty shells, shadows of their former selves. The sparseness of the sets, the cold lighting, and the slow pacing accentuate this depressing notion, that the destruction of families and individuals is a result of the hiding of and refusal to recognize people's true nature.