One Love Story to Rule Them All

Rating: 10/10 (13 March 2006)

As Senator Russ Feingold said, this film is tremendous and tragic. I heard all the hype for months and wasn't really expecting much (I'm not much for hype), but now that I've seen it, I'm converted. This might be the greatest love story ever told (or at least ranks very high, with "The Princess Bride", "A Walk to Remember" and others).
The story is fairly simple: two ranchers meet while working at the same ranch and develop a strong attraction for each other. At the end of the job, they go their own ways and go on to have wives and kids. But the feelings won't stop, and they will travel great distances to be together.
Roger Ebert hit the nail on the head about the secret of this film's greatness: our own forbidden love. We can identify with being in love with someone society doesn't want us to be. Different gender, religion, age (this also makes "Lolita" great), race... the list goes on. We haven't all had a forbidden love, but I believe most of us have a deep sense of the power of love and we think that love is the one thing worth overcoming obstacles for. Or maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger were both great in this. Ledger really shows his acting limits here, becoming a whole new person. But the real gems are Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams. Hathaway, known from "Princess Diaries" and "Ella Enchanted" (both of which I've seen for some reason) takes a surprisingly adult turn here. Not unlike how Jennifer Connelly went from "Labrynth" to "Requiem for a Dream". Michelle Williams also makes a more adult turn. I never cared for her from "Dawson's Creek", but I think her character is the most powerful in this story. Her role as both obstacle and victim is very intense.
You really should see this movie. All men, women and children should see this movie. The only excuse you have not to see it is if you're a raging homophobe, but if you are you're probably not capable of fully understanding love anyway. Highest possible human recommendation.