My Take on Jack's Death and other thoughts

Rating: Null/10 (17 January 2006)

The second time I saw BBM I paid particular attention to Lureen as she handles Ennis' phone call and that is what I base the following on.
I think Jack was killed the way Ennis is imagining it. I am basing this on Lureen's behavior during the call. Jack had already let it be known that there wasn't much of a marriage left between Lureen and himself. The look on her face as she tells the "official" story is one of disbelief of that story but not wanting to know if her suspicions about Jack and other men are true. He's gone, he's dead, and he's not coming back. It's kind of a "let sleeping dogs lie" approach since she lost so little in losing Jack. Of course, neither Annie P. or Ang Lee tells us clearly so it will always be up to speculation. (remember the story "The Lady or The Tiger...)
Other thoughts: There have been repeated comments about how slow the movie is. I think that may well an issue created from not emotionally engaging with the movie. I am a major Disney fan but was bored by 'Lilo and Stitch' for the same reason - I never connected with the movie - I knew that Stitch would end up staying with Lilo and didn't care about what happened in the mean time. As for the pacing and style of BBM in my second viewing I was stunned to realize that the movie had already progressed to the "Not in August" meltdown scene and would be over in about another half an hour. This story, which reminds me of parts of my youth, was slipping by much too quickly.
Ennis is one of the most complicated characters I have ever seen on the screen (and I love character study movies). The conflicts and fears within make it almost impossible to be real with anyone - and the last thing he ever expected in life was to fall in love with another man - a love he fears more than he fears not having love - and yet he is powerless to deny his feelings. It is a love that is expressed not in words but in deeds and glances. This may be a work of fiction but Ennis has become very real to me, not in a sexual way, but as a living, breathing human being. That for me is the mark of acting at it's finest. The last time I had to keep reminding myself that what I had seen was only a movie, not real life, was 'The Green Mile' which stayed with me for months.
I can not wait for the DVD to come out so that I can revisit the mountain from time to time.