A Very Powerful Film

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2006)

Throughout the film, I felt that there was something which was keeping it from being a masterpiece. It's certainly not the look or direction of the film, which are great. The film is one of the most gorgeous-looking I have ever seen; the beauty of the Teutons in Wyoming really comes through. I think the problem is that the film, although it seems sparse, tries to do too much by covering twenty years in the lives of the two men in a chronological fashion.
I think the film would have been better if it had either concentrated on the Brokeback Mountain episodes, cutting the rest, or, and I think this would be better, if they started with the end and had the beginning of the film as a kind of flashback, a device which has been successfully done before.
By expanding the story, we become acquainted with characters whose relationships are at least as interesting, and often more interesting, than the central one. For example, I would love to have seen more of Ennis' daughter, who is given just enough time to inform us that she has her own thoughts and feelings. Similarly, Alma is such a powerful presence that her relationship with Ennis completely trumps that of Ennis' with Jack's. What does it feel like for a girl? We get a sense of it, but it's sadly just a side-story.
The worst consequence of this expansion, however, is that it takes away so much sympathy from the two characters and allocates it to the women. I didn't really feel anything but pity for the two men; I felt pity and compassion for the women. When Anna Faris' character is introduced, it's like a cup of water during a long drought. Then, we are instantly shown her husband soliciting Jack. So this sprightly, lively character is being betrayed for...what? I'm absolutely not convinced that the trade-off is a good one at all.
Of course, I understand that it's about the two men being placed in an impossible position, etc. What I'm saying is that this film does not do as good a job at getting that across as it could have. It's the best one yet, because it's more or less the only one yet. It's thus more difficult to say how it will fare in comparison with future releases as opposed to a 'straight romance', but it's possible, in the name of universal love, to compare it with other films about lovers placed in difficult positions. There, the most effective films are the ones which are firmly fixated on the central love affair, because it's absolutely necessary to make sure that the audience feels for them more than it does for those around them. That is necessitated by the fact, often enough, that the relationship is one which society frowns upon. The films are thus going up against incredible social pressures. In this case, I think that is extremely true. And yet, in this very film, we have too many relationships compromising the central one.
Having said that, there is too much that is done well in this film for it to be ranked below the A-level. In addition to the direction and superb cinematography, the acting is fantastic. The editing is a bit irritating, and the pacing is off in some parts (which is necessary in order to evoke the idea of boredom and mundanity), but when the film gets it right, it's dead on. The ending is very well-crafted, and the last two sequences are masterpieces in their own right. The scene with Ennis and Jack's parents is utterly devastating. The mother's eye do more to make this film tragic than any other thing in this film. What a story they tell! What pain they give an expression to! In contrast, the scene with Ennis and his daughter is bittersweet. Sweet, because there are two successful love relationships we witness (between the daughter and her soon-to-be husband, and between Ennis and his daughter). And it's bitter, because a third love relationship, between Ennis and Jack, was one which never could have brought either of the lovers the kind of happiness that the daughter excludes when she gives us that wonderful smile that acknowledges her happiness. The shirt and the picture tell us that once, it did bring them happiness. And Ennis' pain tells us that it was ephemeral. The last shot with the window tells us something else: Ennis is inside looking out. Ennis has always been inside looking out. Jack was on the threshold, desiring to get out. That difference in perspective is the central difference between the two men, and one of the main reasons behind the tragedy in the film.