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Brokeback Mountain (2005)
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Movie Review by Tony 
April 4th, 2006
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"Brokeback Mountain" is directed by Ang Lee, who is pound for pound one of the best directors in Hollywood today. He shows that here with his Academy Award winning directing job in this wonderful film. This might be the best example of perfect Hollywood craftsmanship since 2004's "Million Dollar Baby". Lush landscapes, gorgeous mountains, great scenery. Ang Lee leaves no stone unturned in this film.
Ang Lee did not have the biggest budget on this film. In fact, he had little to nothing and he makes due with what he has and shows beauty in the simplest of things. You don't need special effects, camera tricks, or 100 million dollar budgets to make things enjoyable on the viewers eye. Just look around you, use what you got, and settle in on those subtlety gorgeous areas of the mountains.
He tells the story which is based on the short short by Annie Proulx and the Academy Award winning screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. The first half hour to 45 minutes of the film is just interaction and situations between Jack Twist, a rodeo cowboy played by Jake Gyllenhaal and a ranch hand named Ennis Del Mar played terrifically and nuancely by Heath Ledger. They are hired by the crusty and mean Joe Aguirre played by the always reliable Randy Quaid.
They are to do work on Brokeback Mountain, clean up sheep, and other odd jobs. As I stated above, the director takes about 30-45 minutes here to show them in an everyday environment, get to know them, and how they relate to each other as human beings. The attraction is not instant and they don't start jumping each others bones. That's too simple. Ang Lee is smarter then that. He shows how they relate to each other, talk, and how their relationship grows over time to what it becomes.
This is done since what occurs in the latter stages of the movie will mean so much more. It's easy to label them gay cowboys, but they are human beings with feelings, thoughts, fears just like us. Ang Lee shows them as people, regardless of their sexual preference, which is vital in a film like this. To simplify matters or make it basic as "gay" or "bad" is not what this film is about.
The performance notably Heath Ledger's are all on the money here. It's believable, realistic, and authentic. Ledger and Gyllenhaal play this with their heart and soul. Even the more intense kissing scenes and sexual scenes are done without either of them looking uncomfortable or grossed out. In order for the material to work, the actors selling it have to play so it's believable and we believe they are in love. In this case, the actors sell it with emotion and passion, so it works very well.
Ledger has the meaty and tougher role as the cynical, older, worn out by life character. He speaks very little and has to get across a good portion of his feelings with facial expressions. Also, worth noting is that Ledger is Australian and here has a Texas accent done perfectly. He makes the transition with little problems. Ledger has a few scenes where he busts out in an emotional rage and he does it so convincely and so moving I was shocked.
Gyllenhaal on the other hand is the wild, crazy, and over the top character who has little fears or worries. He plays him as a lovable goof with sweet sides to him. You can see why him and Ledger were together and liked each other. Opposites attract and they both have personal traits that the other wish they had. The chemistry between the two is there. They enjoy one magical summer on Brokeback Mountain in 1963 and then go off to live lives off their own but they still hold near and there to them that summer.
Ennis ends up marrying Alma played heartbreakingly well by the underrated Michelle Williams. They have two children and live together. Jack on the other hand, ends up marrying Lureen Newsome who is played by the unusually good Anne Hathaway. They marry and have a son together. They go on living life as normal as they can, almost leading second lives, despite still having intense feelings for each other from that memorable summer.
They still get together on random weekends every month and enjoy and cherish their time together but they can never be together like they wish they could be. I had a friend who saw this film and told me "if they really loved each other, they would have gotten together, lived together, and made it work". And I told him, he was 110 percent wrong in his statement. Here's why ...
This was 1963. Things were A LOT different then they are now. Homosexuals were killed, beaten, and not thought of in high regard. Ledger even tells this to Gyllenhaal in the movie. How if they get together at the wrong place and wrong time, they are dead. You have to understand when this film was set and how it's forbidden love. ESPECIALLY when it comes to cowboys. So keep in mind, the answer is not a simple get up and go. They are stuck with these feelings and unable to do anything about it.
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