In Heaven, you can be yourself

Rating: 10/10 (14 June 2006)

I just saw Brokeback Mountain last weekend, for the first time, on DVD; it's been several days, and now I'm here - and glad to see I'm not alone.
A Canadian friend exhorted me to see this in February; she also lent me the Annie Proulx story on which it's based. I was prepared for this movie to be very, very, VERY sad.
But 'sad' doesn't do it. This movie is truly devastating.
I've been crying for days; a blossom of evening sky, a guitar lick from the score, a flash of a pregnant image from the movie, and my whole frame convulses. - I don't do much Hollywood, or movies in general; never reviewed a movie before, like many on this site; but this is a *phenomenon*.
I don't think there are words to describe the effect this movie can have; mention of sleepless nights, inexplicable longings, addictive reactions, the spontaneous memory of an image causing a sudden tsunami of emotion: the experience is really beyond telling, reflected in the multitude of reviews. It's all happening to me: I'm glad to know I'm not alone.
There may be critical 'holes' in it, here or there; but they disappear in the overwhelming effect of the whole. Performances invisible; visually mesmerising; gracefully paced, and unerringly spare. Ennis'/Ledger's story is mythical in its depth and classical in its tragedy: to know, only when it's gone, how fulfilled your life was with something, and how empty it will be after.
Highest praise all round; the Academy was wrong. This one meteor-ed right into my top 10 films list; and it's by far the most affecting film I've ever seen. By all means see it, if you have the openness to cope with the subject matter; but be prepared to be undone. You will not leave Brokeback Mountain the same person you were coming to it.