We went to see the much discussed Brokeback Mountain last night – the movie that has been billed as a ‘gay cowboy movies,’ and that is mostly because we have to categorize everything. The movie is stunning. Truly stunning. That being said, it is also horribly sad – a tragedy, really.
That being said, I’ll give my grade up front so if you don’t want to know anything more about the movie… As if it was some big secret, I give it a strong A, and yet I recommend this movie with some trepidation because it is just so sad. I even called my sister, who has had a tough month, and recommended that she not see it. So yes, it is phenomenal, but just be prepared.
I was not. I went into the movie knowing little about it – I knew it was based on a 1997 short story that was published in The New Yorker by Annie Proulx (whose name I can just never pronounce. Is it Pro-lix or Pru? She actually answers that question on her Web site, for those curious… Go to the FAQ. ) My boss actually had given me the complete New Yorkers for Christmas and I looked up the original, but I had not had a chance to read it yet.
I also knew that the movie was directed by Ang Lee, who directed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, of course. My first experience with Lee, however, was with one of his early movies, 1993’s The Wedding Banquet. That subtitled movie is about a gay couple, one of whom looks to satisfy his nagging parents by marrying a friend, but it gets out of hand when the parents arrive and begin to take over the wedding plans. I have not seen it in years, but the movie is a CJD-fav.
Lee has such a delicate touch. His movies are always just so graceful. And Brokeback Mountain is no exception. From the scenery to the characters, the movie is just delightful.
Brokeback Mountain is that rare thing, a big Hollywood weeper with a beautiful ache at its center. It's a modern-age Western that turns into a quietly revolutionary love story.
-- Entertainment Weekly
The movie is about Ennis del Mar (remarkably played by Health Ledger) and Jack Twist (also very well played by Jake Gugenhaller), two ranch hands who come together when they are working as sheephearers on summer on a range on Brokeback Mountain. The two begin to share more that summer and eventually share their tent. That leads to a much deeper relationship.
Both men go on to marry and have kids – that’s what cowboys are supposed to do. Yet the two repeatedly come into each others lives – they eventually have regular “fishing trips.” Let’s just say that fish have never been safer. And during this period of the movie, it feels somewhat like the Alan Alda movie, "Same Time Next Year" but in some parallel universe.
The story is truly one of love – these men are passionate about each other. One of my faviroite scenes is on their first reunion, Jack is coming to visit Ennis and Ennis sitts at the window waiting in anticipation.
The tragedy is this love does not conquer all. There are severe consequences for this relationship – lost jobs, bad marriages, affairs, divorces, extreme loneliness and almost poverty… and more. In the end,
As the movie goes on, Ennis, penniless and alone, becomes a shard of a man, nurturing a lost dream.
Again, from the EW review:
Brokeback Mountain has a luscious doomed tenor that, at times, makes it feel like Edith Wharton with Stetsons. It's far from being a message movie, yet if you tear up in the magnificent final scene, with its haunting slow waltz of comfort and regret, it's worth noting what, exactly, you're reacting to: a love that has been made to knuckle under to society's design. In an age when the fight over gay marriage still rages, Brokeback Mountain, the tale of two men who are scarcely even allowed to imagine being together, asks, through the very purity with which it touches us: When it comes to love, what sort of world do we really want?
The movie is well worth the time. Andenjoy!
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