Best Film of 2005

Rating: 10/10 (20 January 2006)

Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain is an extremely powerful and moving film. While Ang Lee's level of direction is now commonly known to go hand in hand with excellence, the level that Lee is on with Brokeback Mountain is something that few films in history have ever achieved. Despite a limited release and a hesitant reception in the box office, Brokeback Mountain is a film that will not let its raw power be denied by unwilling critics.
Based on the short story by E. Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain is the heart-wrenching tale of two cowboys, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), who meet one summer while working together as cattle hands on Brokeback Mountain in 1963. While their co-worker relationship starts off awkward and standoffish, Jack's outgoing charm finally finds its way through Ennis's quiet and rough defenses, exposing two men unsure with the directions of their lives. The only thing that Ennis Del Mar knows, is that once he gets off Brokeback, he and his fiancÃ© Alma (Michelle Williams) are getting married and starting a family. Through the loneliness and cold nights spent on Brokeback, Jack and Ennis, to their own surprise, stumble across a love interest between them that will change their lives forever.
Now, for a film that's subject matter alone for one reason or another causes some of America to cringe, you can imagine the delivery of such intense roles would be an incredible task, and that is exactly what we get in Brokeback Mountain, absolutely incredible performances. Every scene between Ledger and Gyllenhaal is electrifying. There are multiple instances while watching the exchanges between the two that I realized I had literally stopped breathing from their performances. After their first night making love, Jack and Ennis share a quiet scene on a hillside where Ennis says, "You know I ain't queer," then near the films end, while the two are talking about how hard it is to see each other so little, Ennis chokes out through his tears "Well, why don't you? Why don't you just let me be? It's because of you that I'm like this! I ain't got nothing... I ain't nowhere... Get the f**k off me! I can't stand being like this no more, Jack!" Now you think about the contrast in those two crucial lines, and imagine the development that Ledger and Gyllenhaal go through during the film, and it is undeniable that the two of them are at their absolute best.
To only talk about the men of Brokeback would be unfair, Michelle Williams who plays Alma, Ennis's wife, and Anne Hathaway who plays Lureen, Jack's wife, also deliver dynamic performances. The composure and character that these two wives have to maintain through the years, knowing that Alma is aware of the affair and clued in that Lureen has a quiet suspicion, is numbing. There is a very intense scene where Jack pays a visit to Ennis's apartment, and while the two are ravishing each other behind the stairwell we watch as Alma sees them through the front door. From that scene on, the relationship between Ledger and Williams in the film is like a ticking bomb, a bomb that the audience has no idea when it is going to explode.
To separate a great movie from a good movie, you need everything, but most of all you need direction, and this is the strongest point of Brokeback Mountain. Ang Lee uses the vast scenery of Wyoming to accompany his actors in such an indescribable way, combined with the phenomenal camera work of Rodrigo Prieto, that it just keeps carving away at you with its beauty. Without many words spoken for the majority of the opening, Ang Lee's direction already has you hooked, it already has you interested, and it already has you committed. Every scene in Brokeback Mountain has a point, and every scene is used to further the plot. With so much beauty surrounding the already beautiful story, Brokeback can get extremely heavy on your heart.
While the subject matter of Brokeback Mountain can at first be a shock to some, you have to remember at its heart, Brokeback Mountain is a love story, as sincere as they come. This is a film that exposes everything and holds nothing back. Everything in Brokeback Mountain is on it's A-game, the performances, especially the bare all performances given by Ledger and Gyllenhaal, the Oscar worthy direction of Ang Lee, and the jaw dropping cinematography of Rodrigo Prieto. While I'm sure you've heard it a thousand times before about thousands of other movies, but if you see just one movie this year, see Brokeback Mountain.