Groundbreaking movie about a heartbreaking love that develops while doing backbreaking labor

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2006)

Ang Lee does indeed manage to create a groundbreaking film in this tale of two cowboys who fall in love, but must keep their relationship secret. The story is told honestly and directly, with little sentiment or sensationalism. The end result is a movie that has resonated with the American public at large - no small feat given its subject matter.
Brokeback Mountain tells the story of Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger), two cowboys who meet one summer while tending sheep on Brokeback Mountain for Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid), a rancher whose only quality seems to be that he looks down and dislikes everyone. While their personalities are almost diametrically opposite - Jack is a gregarious idealist, while Ennis is a taciturn realist - they soon become friends and eventually become lovers for the summer. As the summer draws to a close, they have differing views on whether or not to continue their relationship. Jack would prefer to find a place where he and Ennis can set up a ranch and stay together. Ennis, having seen first hand what happens to gay men in ranch country, wants no part of that scenario. The two men part company at the end of the summer. Ennis marries his sweetheart, Alma (Michelle Williams), while Jack hits the rodeo circuit, eventual marrying Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). Both have children. However, after a few years, Jack finds Ennis, rekindling their romance, which ends in tragic consequences for all involved.
Ang Lee is a master story teller, and it is apparent in this film. Every aspect of the production serves to further the telling of the story. The cinematography is gorgeous, serving to highlight how natural the relationship between Jack and Ennis is to them. The pacing is unhurried, allowing the viewer time to absorb what is going on and internalize it. Even the music, haunting and melancholy, serves to subtly reinforce the sense of the story.
The writing is spectacular, deserving the accolades it has garnered. The characters presented are believable. Their reactions to their situations are understandable, if occasionally unfortunate. And, in a refreshing change of pace, the wives are presented sympathetically, rather than as unlikable characters. You feel for both of them in the situations they have found themselves in. There is some ambiguity, particularly as regards Jack's fate, but the deliberateness of that ambiguity helps to accentuate how little Ennis knows of what becomes of Jack, and what he fears could have happened to Jack. Ennis' visit to Jack's parents house is particularly well crafted, showing a self absorbed father, and a mother who knows, but cannot directly acknowledge the truth. While not a happy ending, the film does have a hopeful one in that perhaps Ennis has grown before it's too late for him.
The acting was also excellent. Gyllenhaal's Jack ages from optimistic idealism to hurt cynicism in a believable arc. Ledger shows Ennis' self protective reserve quite well, although his unemotional monotone begins to wear after awhile. Still, given the truth with which he shows his character, you can forgive it. While I had trouble emotionally connecting with their characters, I feel both actors still turned in fine performances. William's Alma is a nicely drawn portrait of a woman trying to constructively cope with a difficult situation. Hathaway's Lureen never loses her sweetness, even as she becomes more worldly and jaded. Quaid's Aguirre is malicious and menacing, and Roberta Maxwell's portrait of Jack's mother is a lovely performance in an unfortunately small part. Kate Mara's presentation of Ennis' daughter in one of the final scenes is also nicely done.
It is ironic that the religious right objected to this movie as stridently as they did. While their sexuality was not presented as evil, these are not gay men who fare well. By the end of the movie, one is dead, and the other is an emotionally shattered wreck living alone in a small trailer. What more could a homophobe want? Also, much was made out of the assertion that Jack is a predator. While I didn't read him that way, it was definitely a valid interpretation. In the end, it doesn't matter, because the relationship and what it does to their lives is what's most important in this film.
While the movie was ground breaking on many levels, it also highlights how far the American movie viewing public has to go regarding the issue of homosexuality. Brokeback Mountain did successfully appeal to the mainstream, but perhaps that is because it portrays very manly men, who ultimately don't stay together, and marry women and have children instead. When a movie with two men who stay together has this kind of appeal to the masses, we will be making real progress. Even more so when the men are not of an age, and the older is not denounced as a pedophile or predator. Still, this is a huge step down that road, and one we should all be thankful for.