Perfect Film, For Some

Rating: 10/10 (15 January 2006)

I anticipated the release of "Brokeback Mountain" since previewing it when I saw "A History of Violence" in October. A little bit of research revealed that the film was being limitedly released on December 9th. Unfortunately, the film was postponed twice in my City, and I was not able to see it until January 6th. By this point, I had been bombarded with such an array of positive reviews that I was afraid the movie would not live up to such a high precedent (this happened also with "Sideways" last year; the brilliant film was so reviewed that it became disappointing to everybody who got around to seeing it more than a few weeks after its initial release). It lived entirely up to my expectations, though it is important to note that, while in many important aspects very beautiful, "Brokeback" is not necessarily an entertaining film.
"Brokeback Mountain" is, as you have undoubtedly already heard, the harrowing love story of two men, Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar, who unexpectedly fall into a physical relationship one summer, herding sheep. The screenplay was based on the short story of the same title by E Annie. Proulx, and is an almost flawless adaptation. I found the film to be heart-wrenching, the aforesaid lead characters to be unbelievably well acted, and the film to be every bit as "revolutionary" as so many critics and reviewers have claimed. However, I would also like to make the appeal that if you are not a particularly analytical person, you do not enter the film wanting to be blown away.
It is undeniable that "Brokeback Mountain" is, at its foundation, a fairly traditional love story. Though homosexuality is always a daring notion, and "corrupting" an archetypal male image such as the "cowboy" (which the characters aren't, historically) was extremely daring, these are not the main contributors to the reasons behind the revolutionary nature of this film. Do not see "Brokeback" expecting continual on-screen romance, nudity, or tender moments. Twist and del Mar share, relatively, little screen time, and the romantic aspects of their relationship stem not from love letters, roses and an abundance of tender on-screen kisses, but from painful desperation and greedy hunger.
Instead, the "revolution" as presented of this film is considerably more subtle. It is presented also in two of director Ang Lee's other films in particular, "the Ice Storm" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Both of these films subtly redefine the natural world - the stereotypes of "family" and even natural, physical laws. There is little on-screen action in "Brokeback", and the pacing is not necessarily entertaining. "Brokeback Mountain" instead works at redefining the patterning to a romantic film by using the chronology, instead of the typical Meeting - Complications - Realisation - Physicality to Meeting - Physicality - Complications - Realisation.
Again, I want to see this film receiving wild success. It is by far the best movie I have seen from the 2005 film season, and I want everybody to have the opportunity to appreciate it. However, I do not want people to be let down by the film; it is not about gay sex, excessive romance, action or even a truly societal message. "Brokeback Mountain" is a beautiful, slow-moving and flawlessly acted and extremely subtle film about two very different people. I rate it here with a perfect mark, but I know that in order to agree with that mark it is important to be more enamored with storytelling and screen writing than with entertainment.