Brokeback Mountain
Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid
Directed By: Ang Lee
Written By: E. Annie Proulx (short story), Larry McMurtry (Screenplay)
MPAA: Rated R

It's a brilliant, moving and colorful study of human emotion and relationships. Brokeback Mountain is about Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) who meet working as sheep hands on Brokeback Mountain in 1963. Ennis Del Mar is engaged to be married once the summer is over and he is done with the job. Ennis and Jack end up falling in love, but will not take their relationship any further than Brokeback Mountain.

Once the job is done, they depart and lead different lives. Ennis continues to work as a ranch hand; get’s married and has two children. Jack gets married to Lureen (Ann Hathaway), works for her father’s farming equipment company, and has a little boy. After four years, they get back together and rekindle the romance they once shared. Ennis ends up getting divorced from his wife Alma (Michelle Williams) and has a long bout of depression and leads a lonely lifestyle.

Jack and Ennis meet a couple of times a year at Brokeback Mountain to spend time. Jack wants them to be together, but Ennis is conflicted because of the way society would treat them. For 20 years they battle out their relationship, until one day, it is too late for Ennis to realize that Jack was his true soul mate.

This movie made a point that most people might never have considered. Since the movie was set in Wyoming and Texas from 1963 up until the 80’s, it shows the downfalls about the relationship between 2 men and the conditions that they had to endure. Feelings such as theirs were supposed to be hidden from society because it was unacceptable for those feelings to be the norm. It was one of those things you knew was happening but just didn’t talk about, like a big white elephant in the room. Heath Ledgers’s character knew what would happen if he and Jack were to live together. It wasn’t acceptable, and even dangerous to them, and it tore both he and their relationship apart.

To me this movie was a breakthrough on a subject that has become generally accepted but still has many problems. Being gay in America today is not an uncommon thing, but there is still a fight for rights in society. As Jack and Ennis show, it isn’t an easy road sometimes, “back then” OR today.

I also thought that the movie clearly represented another key point. I didn’t think it was just about 2 cowboys loving each other. I think it also showed that people can be attracted to anyone. It doesn’t necessarily mean you are one way or another, but girls can be attracted to girls and boys to boys, or boys to girls. Ennis was happily engaged to a woman before he even took the job on Brokeback Mountain. I think there was a strong attraction that Ennis had towards Jack and that is what made him fall in love with him. I think that Ennis loved his wife very much, but didn’t have as strong of an attraction to her as he did for Jack. Can we control who we are attracted to? And does that make us gay or straight? An attraction is a powerful thing.

Heath Ledger put forth an Oscar worthy performance as the perfect cowboy. He had the walk, the talk, the look, the attitude. Everything about his character was so convincing that you would never know he wasn’t a cowboy in real life. Jake Gyllenhaal played a good role also. Jake’s baby face doesn’t seem to quite fit the picture of a man yet, which makes him the perfect opposite of Heath Ledger.

Also, a very worthy performance was from Ann Hathaway as Jake Gyllenhaal’s wife. Her part wasn’t big, but it was very well done. This was a good role for her to do to break out of her Disney image. Her performance was very convincing as a tough housewife who led a privileged life. Michelle Williams played Ennis’s wife, Alma. Her role was small and somewhat insignificant. I didn’t think she did anything special for the film. But, she is the one that new about Jack and Ennis, and that made her role seem relevant.

In the end, Brokeback Mountain is one of the best movies of the year. It pulls you in with its beautiful Ansel Adams like scenery and it’s wonderfully written script, and makes you cry. It also opens your eyes to a world of reality and truth that has yet to be acknowledged. I take offense to the reviewers who trivialized it by saying that this movie is just about 2 gay cowboys. If they had actually watched the movie they would have seen that it is a poignant discussion of the depths of human relationships. Definitely worth seeing.