I attempt from love's sickness to fly in vain

Rating: Null/10 (24 February 2006)

While "I wish I knew how to quit you" has become a household lament, there's a more elegant way of saying the same thing, as in this beautiful 17th century art song that I borrowed for my summary line.
Structure-wise, the story of BBM is not unlike "Same time, next year", a very entertaining play (made into a movie in 1978), about a chance romantic encounter between a married man and a married women leading to an annual reunion at the same place (except that in the case of BBM, it's two or three times a year). The big difference is of course that "Same time next year" is a comedy. Another association that presents itself almost automatically is "The bridges of Madison County", first in a "forbidden love", then in the protagonists wishing their cremated remains to be scattered at the place enshrined in their hearts, Brokeback Mountain and Madison County respectively.
The first sequence of BBM (about 45 minutes) is mesmerising, totally captivating. It starts with two lonely cowboys, shown in several frames in which they are shot at different angles, waiting in front of the trailer of a range owner waiting for his return. One comes off a bus and the other drives an ancient pickup that is better suited to the junkyard. There is no conversation, no background music, and only the faintest of ambiance sound. The languid pace is set.
Hired to tend a large herd of sheep, the two set off to the breathtaking Wyoming mountains, Brokeback Mountain to be exact. The entire sequence that follows is accompanied by sporadic background guitar  gentle, unplugged, acoustic. The combined visual and audio effect is wonderfully poetic. The two cowboys are on friendly terms, being thrown into the lonely mountains as co-workers, but on the whole quiet. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger), an orphan since his pre-teen days, is particularly taciturn and introvert. When more outgoing Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) finally gets him to say more than a few words about his childhood - "more than you have said for the last two weeks"  Ennis replies "more than I have said in a whole year."
Following in considerable details their mundane daily life in the beautiful place which is in the middle of nowhere (a supply man comes once every two weeks bring provisions), we see first friendship flourish between these two young men, and later development of romantic and sexual attachment to each other. As I said, this first sequence is beautifully poetic. Director Ang Lee is a master of handling subtle human emotions and relationships. Through his thoughtful as well as skillful direction, he has done a marvellous job in getting empathy for Ennis and Jack from the audience, homosexual or not. If he has not been completely successful, at least no one else will do any better.
This empathy is important because what follows in not happy to watch - the twenty year in which these two men struggled each with his own unhappy marriage. I wouldn't go into the details, other than saying that this movie is amazingly rich in subplots and supporting characters. But the soul of the movie is these two men's tortured relationship, in their two or three times a year "fishing trips" to Brokeback Mountain.
As I said, Ennis is taciturn and introvert, but he is not in the least timid  he beats up two 200-pound goons when they loud-mouth obscenity within ear shot of his little daughters. And Ledger portrayed particularly brilliantly Ennis' inward excitement upon receiving a post card from Jack 4 years after they have parted company at Brokeback Mountain. It is Jack, outgoing and sometimes even flamboyant, that is truly the gentle soul. He puts up with his obnoxious father-in-law until it become totally intolerable. But it is also Jack, an idealist, a dreamer, who is the active initiator in their relationship. Ennis is passive, practical and always worrying about his livelihood, due partly no doubt to the poverty he grew up in. Jack is passionate and wants to just run away with Ennis to have their own life but Ennis is constantly haunted by one nightmarish image his father made sure he saw, at the age of 9, of the body of a homosexual man tortured to death. As passionate young men when they first met at Brokeback Mountain, they had their best chance of taking off and facing the risk. When their love was rekindled 4 year later, it was already too late, and what was ahead was years of helplessness and unfulfilled passion.
One scene I want to particularly mention is their last encounter, in which Jack is really bitter that Ennis could not get away to meet him again until November. They have a fight (almost literally), and reconcile before parting. Ang Lee put into that sequence one ingenious flashback from their first encounter in Brokeback Mountain, completely seamlessly, of a parting, a very temporary one when Ennis just when out to tend the herd and would be back for supper at the tent. That flashback of tender goodbye when they first fell in love is particularly poignant when we realise later that this is the last time they would see each other, as Jack was killed before the November meeting.
While Ledger is obviously deservedly in the run for Oscar best leading actor, my personal favourite is Gyllenhaal whom I have followed since "Moonlight Mile" ("Donnie Darko" I only saw subsequently) through not-so-challenging "Day after tomorrow", to his two other excellent 2005 performances "Proof" and "Jarhead". Hope he wins the Oscar best supporting. Also nominated is Michelle Williams (playing Ennis' wife Alma) who was so impressive in Wim Wender's "Land of Plenty". There are other good supporting performances, too many to mention.