A Soaring Ledger Emboldens Lee's Powerful, Evocative Portrait of Self-Limited Destiny

Rating: 10/10 (12 December 2005)

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the opening weekend in San Francisco was completely sold out for this much anticipated film. I just read the brief, wondrous novella by Annie Proulx a couple of weeks ago, and despite its wellspring of emotion, the 55-page book didn't seem like a natural candidate for screen treatment, especially one with a running time of 134 minutes. What is most intriguing about director Ang Lee's 2005 cinematic adaptation is how it builds upon the elliptical nature of Proulx's narrative into something quite transcendent and relevant beyond urban, flavor-of-the-month movie audiences.
Thanks primarily to an extremely perceptive screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, the much-discussed gay romance is not what separates this film from others but rather the penetrating depiction of the barriers that keep the two cowboys apart. As Lee has proved in previous films that go beyond his cultural identity, he can take what seems to be a niche subject and turn it into a love story with universal appeal to anyone facing an inhospitable environment. I join the chorus who feels it would be shame if potential viewers skip this movie on the preconceived and misbegotten notion that it is simply a "gay cowboy" romance.
Initially set on the mountain of the movie's title in Wyoming, the plot focuses on taciturn ranch hand Ennis Del Mar and animated bull-rider Jack Twist, both hired for low wages to herd sheep during the summer of 1963. One cold night, after we see several scenes where they get to know each other and acclimate themselves to their roles, they enter reluctantly into a passionate tryst. While the more open-minded Jack is excited by the feeling of liberation, Ennis is steadfast in his self-inflicted shame and rejects Jack's dream to own a ranch together. Having witnessed as a child the remains of a man lynched for carrying on a gay relationship, Ennis is afraid of the same fate. However, they both recognize an intractable bond that they try to ignore with great futility.
Four years elapse, during which time both get married and have children. Ennis marries longtime sweetheart Alma and raises two daughters. Jack has since moved to Texas and married Lureen, the daughter of a big-time farm equipment dealer. He decides to come back and visit Ennis, and their pent-up passion is sparked and becomes unbridled. They begin to take romantic getaways together for the next two decades under the guise of fishing trips. A twist of fate brings Ennis an open resignation to his unresolved feelings even as his now-grown up daughter attempts to get to know him.
The performances are uniformly strong. Jake Gyllenhaal portrays Jack in his familiar, wide-eyed manner since it fits his character's more idealistic personality, though he becomes marginally less convincing when he ages. As the wives, both actresses are removing the shackles of previously limiting roles. A graduate of the TV teen-angst soap opera, "Dawson's Creek", Michelle Williams continues the promise she showed in Thomas McCarthy's "The Station Agent" by revealing the increasing pain and unrelenting sadness in Alma, alternately realizing and denying what is going on between Jack and her husband. Anne Hathaway seems to be jettisoning her goody image from Garry Marshall's "The Princess Diaries" in a hurry as Lureen - first as a feisty rodeo girl not afraid to get sexually aggressive with Jack and then in a series of unfortunate blond wigs (from Farrah to Loni Anderson), as a savvy businesswoman growing indifferent to her husband's lack of attention. It's the smallest, least developed part of the four principals, but she makes her moments count.
However, it is Heath Ledger who amazes as Ennis. This heretofore almost strictly commercial actor has tapped deeply into the agony of his character's soul with authentic force and poignancy. It's a career-defining performance of a man who cannot let his internal stirrings affect his outward appearance. It's Ledger who makes the intimate scenes between Ennis and Jack seem so desperately charged with emotion and regret. Smaller roles are filled expertly - Randy Quaid as the suspicious sheepherder boss; Linda Cardellini - completely unrecognizable as bespectacled Velma from the "Scooby Doo" movies - as the waitress who tries hard to bring out Ennis' heart; and Kate Mara as Ennis's loving daughter. The panoramic vistas of Wyoming (actually Canada) are provided by Rodrigo Prieto's stunning cinematography, and the evocative music score is by Gustavo Santaolalla, who did similarly stellar work in Walter Salles's "The Motorcycle Diaries". I am hopeful there is a broader audience than the enraptured critics, as the rest of us are also being rewarded with a superbly executed film.