The twenty year secret love affair of two cowboys, and how each deals with it in one another's presence, as well as on their own.

Rating: 10/10 (20 January 2006)

It has been almost a week since I went and saw this movie, and I can not get it out of my mind. I feel ownership over the mistakes that the characters made. Their good memories and genuine love soften the edge on a bad day for me.
I read the short story before I went and saw the movie, and thought that it was incredibly well-written, but I was interested (and somewhat skeptical) to see how a filmmaker was planning on drawing out the action any better than Annie Proulx already had. Obviously from this review, my skepticism was misplaced, and what I found in Ang Lee's vision could be described as nothing less than mournfully captivating.
Finally, someone in Hollywood got the notion of a love story right. Refreshing as the Wyoming setting, Ang Lee truly did the story justice, while adding his own insights along the way. This film makes you want to fix what went wrong, mend twenty years of hurt and see the world the film provides continue. 'Brokeback Mountain' makes you a part of the story, even if the characters on the screen can't see you, you certainly feel them.
I was pleasantly surprised by Williams' and Hathaway's performances, guiltily, I hadn't expected much from them, but they prove that they are absolutely essential to this film. Quaid creates the quintessential face of bigotry which shocked my previous view of the roles he chose. Gyllenhaal wears every emotion on his sleeve, and despite the film spanning over twenty years, the initial joy and pleasure the audience witnesses in his eyes when he first meets Ennis is never subdued. But Ledger truly makes this movie, I don't believe anyone else could have developed the story in the way he did. Ledger's performance is absolutely heartbreaking.
I feel drawn to go see this movie again, but afraid to at the same time. God, the end still makes me ache. Truly haunting...