More than just "that gay cowboy film"

Rating: 9/10 (10 June 2020)

"Brokeback Mountain" is a 2005 drama directed by Ang Lee starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. For my second extracurricular contribution to the "Queering Cinema" community project, I decided to tackle one of the most critically acclaimed dramas from the oughts of this century. Allegedly, the director who has previously been known to me as the director of the visually stunning drama "Life of Pi" but also the disastrous comic book adaptation "Hulk" has created his opus magnum with this motion picture, hence my expectations to it remained neutral, even if I was a little euphoric as well, because of the phenomenal actors and actresses that star in it. Even if a star-studded doesn't automatically guarantee a fine film (history has proven it multiple times), I was sure to experience some excellence. Aside from Gyllenhaal, who famously happens to be my favourite actor, there is the legendary Heath Ledger starring opposite him, as well as a young Michelle Williams, who happens to be my favourite actress, and even Anne Hathaway in a smaller role. Regarding acting talent, this film is redundant with people who are capable of writing cinematic history. As it turns out, this is exactly what they did. Lee created a remarkable and multifarious drama that hits deep with everything it has to offer. Beforehand, I thought that the runtime of a little more than two hours could be too long, but ultimately turns out to be the appropriate amount of time to unfold the tragic romance between two shepherds. The film starts out rather slowly and takes a lot of time to introduce the leading characters, but at the same time feels oddly rushed. Most of the scenes in the beginning have zero to no dialogue and live from the visually stunning aesthetics of the mountains, storms and sheep flock and the relationship between Ennis and Jack develops in an extremely subliminal way. Avowedly, that both all suddenly have sex after in fact not much has happened between them appeared strange to me at first but makes a lot of sense retrospectively. As previously mentioned, the tension is built up subtly and isn't palpable straight away and hides in seemingly insignificant details. Also, it was all done intentionally to present the audience with a fait accompli, for they are confused about the whole situation themselves. Confusion is a pivotal theme in this film and influences the whole narration. Many things deliberately remain uncertain and the audience is left in the dark with most matters and must join the dots themselves. The by far biggest and most interesting mystery is what it is what they share. If I remember it correctly, the words "gay" and "homosexual" or other variants are not mentioned once, and it is left up to the audience to evaluate the relationship of the two protagonists. Are they homosexual, are they bisexual or was all just an illusion that resulted from isolation of being in the mountains? Whatever they have experienced remains unclear, as they both still seem to be attracted to their wives and also other girls, but fact is that those two human beings fell in love with each other despite their inability to express their true intentions and feelings. That's what makes this story so terribly tragic. The whole narration covers a time span of more than twenty years and the way they try to secretly relive their special romance they had in the early sixties. While the film was little fast paced in the beginning and could have taken a little more time to invest in depicting the heartache they feel when they are apart, it is still enough to make it appear so extremely unpleasant. It is nothing short of painful to see how those two men who share a deep bond must conceal their feelings, as homosexuality was not only frowned upon but also a matter that would have deprived them from any social status. Therefore, they continue living their lives without letting their true desire get in their ways, the only opportunity to meet each other is by one-night stands disguised as fishing and hunting trips. They even discuss their ideas of how it would be possible to settle down together, they have concrete plans of how to accomplish it, but ultimately Ennis fears the reaction of the society they live in. As if that hasn't been already heartbreaking enough, Lee ups the ante and makes it even more unbearable in the final act. After Jack all suddenly dies under strange circumstances, if he really died in a car accident or was killed by a group of homophobes, as Ennis imagines it, is not in fact mentioned, the film reached its emotional climax. Whatever has happened to him, fact is he is dead. How Ennis tries to cope with it in the final twenty minutes must be one of the most devastating sequences in history of drama. What makes it so utterly terrible is that they had so many chances, so many opportunities that could have prevented this tragic fate, but in the end, they never dared to seize them. All of this already sounds tremendously saddening, but it is the actors that breathe life into tragedy. Aside from a magnificent supporting role by my acting heroine Williams who masters the character of the fragile and subtly depressed wife wonderfully (another reason for me to love her), the chemistry between Ledger and Gyllenhaal is terrifically genuine and they play their respective roles convincingly. Also, their characters are both wonderfully developed and make this whole romance appear so realistic. Gyllenhaal is the more determined one, while Ledger portrays the more hesitant lover. Fact is, both manage to make it appear as if they are in love with each other in their own irresolute way and you can literally feel the way they express their desire for one another. While Ennis is taciturn throughout and leaves the talking up to Jack, it is the total opposite in the third act. They both have delivered already touching performances by then, but I swear to God, this final scene where Ennis stands in front of the wardrobe and looks at that blood-smeared shirt his beloved has kept over the years and realizes that he should have done so many things differently and breaks out in tears, is one of the most heartbreaking and devastating scenes I have ever seen. Seriously, I sobbed due to this emotional intensity. That his daughter told him that she is gonna get married with someone she barely knows but deeply loves no matter what reminds him of the chances he didn't seize. In this final shot it is all coming together, fear, regret and desire, and the combination of all those haunting feelings even makes the principally barely emotional Ennis Del Mar weep bitterly - and this is masterful acting and story telling. All in all, this star-studded drama is a highly emotional and hauntingly tragic ride into the deepest depths of human desire. It explores the strange love of two men who can not really tell how they feel about each other in an extremely sensitive way and comes to life by the outstanding performances of the lead actors who guide the viewer through this ambiguous and heartbreaking story. This film is without a doubt one of the best dramas of the decades and despite some pacing issues in the beginning, manages to be a breathtakingly tragic tale that sticks with the audience for a while. This film ends exactly as the two protagonists promise it to each other: What happens in Brokeback Mountain, stays in Brokeback Mountain. It is the devastating but unalterable truth behind it all. A gut-wrenching classic and extremely important entry in the landscape of LGBTQ films.