Brokeback - A cinema masterpiece!

Rating: 10/10 (12 December 2005)

Brokeback Mountain
"I ain't no queer" - Ennis Del Mar
Brokeback Mountain starts in 1963. We meet two teenage ranch hands out to make some money over a summer by herding a flock of sheep up on Brokeback Mountain. Strangers when they meet, they must work together to tend to a camp and watch the sheep for predators.
These two meet for the first time on the day they were hired, but before they come down from Brokeback they have formed a bond that neither one of them had expected. There are no words to explain what they feel, there is no vocabulary and no support system for men in the 1960's who happen to find that once in a lifetime connection - with another man.
"Me neither" - Jack Twist
Ennis is quiet and reserved. Heath Ledger brings this character to life with his first appearance on the screen. It is such a deep character study, so rich with passion and pain. He is a marvel to watch on the screen and it's almost impossible to take your eyes off him when he is in a scene.
Jack Twist is rowdy and romantic. Jake Gyllenhaal lights up Jack's eyes with all of the hope and desire needed to transport the audience to that place where love takes hold of you, ready or not! Jack is the risk taker and the dreamer. He has a ranch in his mind where he and Ennis could share their love all the time, and not just in stolen moments.
So they painfully part ways after that summer. Never knowing if they will ever see each other again. Each one takes a wife and tries to lead the life society expects them to lead.
But how do you forget the deepest love you have ever felt? How do you not let that have an effect on you for the rest of your life? And what do you do when it all comes back to you later in life? You may be different, but true love remains the same.
This story is so universal. When posed with choices as difficult as responsibility to your wife and children compared to a life with the one that you love....well there are no easy answers.
Experiencing a love that takes your breath away, that makes you want to work and compromise anything and everything to keep it....it is both wonderful and frightening. It can make you question everything you have done in your life to that point and everything you will do in the future.
"If you can't change it, you gotta stand it" - Ennis Del Mar
But one true thing about that kind of love , it's anything but "queer".