The Real "Love Story"...

Rating: 10/10 (12 January 2006)

If you're going to put two attractive male actors on a beautiful backdrop of mountain scenery and tell them to get it on, it's always going to be a winner - this was at least my opinion on 'Brokeback Mountain' before I watched it the other night. And I was right - as I suspected.
All too often does Hollywood present a 'more than perfect' insight into relationships, painting over the ugly parts and restricting any audience empathy. This film breaks all the rules but along the way redefines them with such grace that should be credited and admired.
'Brokeback Mountain' tells the often heartbreaking, continuously touching story of two seemingly reserved Southern American guys who find love in the stunning Brokeback Mountain of Wyoming.
The many people who have referred to this as 'The Gay Cowboy Movie' could not be more wrong. Brokeback serves as so much more than that and offers an insight into the perils of homosexual relationships in the mid sixties where when you were 'gay' you were happy.
This film offers few rays of happiness however for the two lead characters Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) as they battle with their feelings for each other over the course of a twenty year affair.
Ennis and Jack meet whilst herding sheep up on Brokeback and one drunken - and freezing cold night, Ennis is forced to take shelter in the tent with Jack.
The highly talked about 'gay love' scenes are not nearly as scandalous as people (mainly strongly-heterosexual males) make out and Ang Lee presents pure lust, aggression and passion in just a few short seconds of footage.
Gyllenhaal and Ledger star perfectly alongside each other in what might just be their 'career defining moment' and I truly doubt they will walk away from the major awards shows this year empty-handed. Both characters deliver some great lines, which will be quoted for a long time and a special mention should go out to the tear-jerking speech Jack gives on realising that love isn't as perfect - or as easy as the fairy tales tell you.
The perfect script serves the film brilliantly and it is obvious that much love and time has gone into making it into a touching and sensitively shattering piece of writing.
Perhaps I'm too sentimental, or perhaps Lee really does work that hard at pulling on the heartstrings of the audience, and what comes of it is pure, unadulterated emotion.
Brokeback Mountain was always destined for success. When you have two such complex and superbly in-depth characterisations from the leading men and a very strong supporting cast it's always going to do well. The amazing direction from Lee and a more than perfect script all contribute to what I hope is going to be the film to sweep up at the Oscars.
Never before have I been so moved by a film, and never before has a piece of cinema lingered on my mind for so long. It's true to admit that every once in a while a movie can come along and, believe me - it will change your perceptions on a lot of issues.
My final tip? Take your tissues, 'cause you're sure as hell are going to need them.