A powerful and compelling love story

Rating: 9/10 (7 January 2006)

It's been a week since I've seen the movie, and I'm still listening to the theme songs and reminiscing each moment of it. The emotional scenes are still lingering through my mind. There's just so much complexity to Brokeback Mountain that it gets u into thinking, a lot.
The characters don't speak much. I think that's the beauty of the script because there's so much left unsaid between Jack and Ennis, but they are able to connect in a way that's ineffable through words. Brokeback Mountain is a thwarted love story between two ranch-hands back in 1963. Heath Ledger portrayed Ennis Del Mar remarkably. He's so into his role and gotten even deeper into the story as the author intended. Through his performance we can tell that Ennis is an inarticulate, introverted, old-fashioned, and simplistic cowboy. He doesn't say much because he's much unsure of who he really is and keeps his feelings bottled up. Jake Gyllenhaal played Jack Twist, who is more outgoing, idealistic, and irrational. His optimism makes him want to make his relationship with Ennis to work out as perfectly as he planned. Jack is more expressive of his feelings and is not afraid to do what he wants. The two characters seem to be quite different and possess opposite personalities, I guess this is why they say that "opposites attract".
Ang Lee had done a terrific job in producing this brilliant film. The whole atmosphere of the movie is tranquil, suspenseful, and sometimes sentimental. It takes the audience into an emotional journey, and it's so engaging to almost everybody that it affects the audience as a whole. This movie is also very thought-provoking because it explores the theme of love in general(not just homosexuality). It proves the fact that love is a force of nature, u can't control who u fall in love with and it can be something irrational and impulsive that hangs onto you and forces u into unimaginable places. I think the tragic downfall of the lovers is the striking difference between their personalities values. They wanted different things in life and had to take on different paths, therefore they cannot be together. It was also an intolerant society that restricted their freedom to express their love or to live together happily ever after.
There may be some nudity and sexuality in the movie, but there's so much meaning behind the sex. Anyone who had fell in love before can relate to this movie, regardless of heterosexual or homosexual love. Because the two cowboys remind u that there's always someone who pulls u completely out of yourself and u fall completely head to heels in love.
I think Brokeback Mountain also serves as a wake-up call to those who discriminates homosexual love. It proves that homosexual love possess exactly the same elements as the love between heterosexuals. And if people are still prejudiced about homosexuals, they should at least consider giving true love a chance.
It's gotta be one of the best movies I've seen this year. It's very profound and moving. I hope everyone will enjoy it as much as I did.