they belonged together

Rating: 10/10 (12 December 2005)

I waited all my life to see a beautiful, sweeping big-screen love story between two men, with production values and real movie stars. Now I've seen one. I hope I don't have to wait too long to see a financially successful one -- that this one is it. I do now have to wait for one where the story is easy and happy and the world isn't against them.
All of the acting in the movie is excellent. Heath Ledger, who seems to have the farthest to go to get to the character he plays, is probably going to get more of the kudos. Gyllenhaal is able to use more of his own personality, as we know it.
Ang Lee's direction is superb. I do want to say something about the sex. Because there are no big long sweaty naked love scenes, I think a lot of people may be expecting something sanitized and overpolite. That is not the case, in my opinion. In the first place, there is a fair amount of nudity, that simply isn't shown in a sexual context, but is assimilated into the sex within the viewer's mind. In the second place, the passion these men feel for each other is in EVERYTHING. It's even manifested in scenes where one of them is not present. It runs through their lives like veins in their skin. I don't believe you'll feel shortchanged, and I think after seeing it you may agree that the film would have seemed more manipulative if it had included the standard, glamorized and ultra-titillating, talk-about scenes some people were hoping for.
For example, in a Hollywood film in which Brad and Angelina strip down and do it for 20 seconds (a long time) in front of a fireplace or a lot of candles, you may be wishing you were with Brad, or wishing you were with Angelina. In "Brokeback Mountain," even though I find both actors attractive, I never for a single moment wanted Jack or Ennis to be with anybody on earth but one another. That's the film's accomplishment.