As if love is being invented

Rating: 10/10 (27 November 2005)

Like Annie Proulx's writing, the film was by equal turns rapturous and devastating. Both exquisitely beautiful and gut-punched painful. Do not go to this movie thinking that Ang Lee has thoughtfully sprinkled in some magic movie dust that will leave you feeling good. You will walk out feeling emotionally drained and conflicted. The conflicted feeling will last for days. My explicit advice is that the film be seen in an environment that will promote a feeling of intimacy. See it with someone you love. You will willingly bear your heart. You will feel vulnerable.
Heath Ledger fully becomes Ennis del Mar. He is wracked by pain, frustration, fear and guilt that never completely leave him. Jake Gyllenhaal fully becomes Jack Twist. He has a kind of hopeful joy you feel you can drink in great healing gulps. But Ennis cannot be completely healed, he can only be temporarily relieved and the anguish that this causes Jack is fully realized through Jake. Ennis' and Jack's love is made fully evident by Heath and Jake in actions and expressions both great and small.
The music of Gustavo Santaolalla is pitch perfect and the screenplay of Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana is flawless.
I don't feel the need to elaborate on the performances of Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway or the cinematography of Rodrigo Prieto. They were each exceptional and have been praised elsewhere. They were not the focus of my concern although if they had not been so exceptional the film would have been crippled.
Please, read the story. But expect to come away from the film with different impressions and understandings. Be prepared to think differently about Jack and Ennis. Be prepared to understand them more fully.
I am honestly grateful to Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ang Lee for so lovingly giving Ennis and Jack and their story to us and I will write them to say so.
You will be changed by this film.