An epic love story that breaks boundaries

Rating: 10/10 (2 January 2006)

There is no denying that this movie is a story about two men who fall in love. But simplifying this film to such clichés is to criminally short-change it.
I hope viewers going into this film do not have expectations. This film is best viewed when you know as little about it as possible, so I will not go into the details of the story. It is an epic film not because it tells a story of Homeric grandiosity, but on the contrary, it is an epic because it tells a story so grounded, realistic & palatable that no character in the film seems surreal, no emotion seems superficial and no outcome predictable.
It is a film that keeps you in suspense precisely because it challenges boundaries and somehow makes you relate with characters that for most people will not be representative of their own sexuality. Because it is non-conventional, the audience relates to characters, not because of the subject matter necessarily, but because no single life is conventional. We all stepped outside of some boundary of our lives, whether to challenge an authority figure like our parents, whether to pursue a career others discouraged us from, or because we fell in love with someone of another ethnicity, race, and yes, same gender.
This is, above all, a human story about life, choices & the years that pass. I think this film has had such an impact on the audiences because it has a sentimental quality that reminds us about the years that have passed & choices we made in our own lives. Jake & Ennis are young men at the beginning of the film, only 19 or 20. We then see them move through twenty years of their life and everything that happens, their regrets, thoughts, dreams & their inner struggle. Remember when you wanted to be a writer, but the family needed a steady income and you put in on a backburner while you work as a nurse?
This film reminds us about what matters most in our short lives, makes us question the choices we've made & helps us see love as a powerful force we cannot deny. It is a masterpiece that captures life in a raw & real form (doesn't get more raw than cowboys working on the land with sheep & cattle or in the dust & grime of the rodeo). The fact that it does this through an examination of a relationship between two men is entirely secondary to Ang Lee's masterful capture of the tragic brevity of life.