Good, but nothing above that.

Rating: 6/10 (27 February 2006)

The story begins in Wyoming in 1963, when Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are 19 years old and get a job tending sheep on Brokeback Mountain. Ennis is a boy of so few words he can barely open his mouth to release them; he learned to be guarded and fearful long before he knew what he feared. Jack, who has done some rodeo riding, is a little more outgoing, and likes to have fun. After some days have passed on the mountain and some whiskey has been drunk, they suddenly and almost violently have sex. After the day fades away Ennis tells Jack "This is a one-shot thing we got going on here,"Ennis says the next day. Jack agrees. But it's far from that. After summer, they part. A while after their boss Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) tells Jack he doesn't want him to return next summer. Many years pass and Jack and Ennis get married to different people, not seeing each other a while after Jack sends a postcard to Ennis saying he'll be in town (Wyoming). They begin a routine were they pretend to go fishing on mountainside and secretly they act out their secret passion. One day, Ennis's wife Alma (Michaelle Williams), suspects there is more than a friendship between the two. After they both learn that they have an intimate relasionship, which is ruined after a tragedy that will engulf their long, secret relasionship.
The movie is based on a short story by E. Annie Proulx. I'm not familirar with it, but since this film was so acclaimed, I though I should just see it, and I did. I didn't particularly enjoy it all over, it was an average film. The performances where outstanding, but I really failed to see what everyone else saw in this film. The scenery is outstanding, along with the performances, that's another good thing, in the world beyond Jack and Ennis' relationship, love and tenderness are rarely found. That's a flaw in this finely crafted film, though it does serve to emphasize the unparalleled importance Jack and Ennis' relationship has in their lives.
My only advice is to watch some of Ang Lee's better films, such as The Ice Storm. Now, that is far superior work. To me Brokeback did not live up to the immense hype. Sorry, but I just did not like it that much.
6/10