Such a sad but beautiful movie

Rating: 9/10 (20 May 2008)

When I first heard about "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005, there was buzz all over the place from critics and moviegoers alike who lauded the movie for being a risk taker while at the same time being the pun of jokes on comedy and late night talk shows because of the subject of having two gay cowboy lovers. My first reaction in watching the movie on HBO almost made me want to giggle in remembrance to the jokes, but it wasn't until five minutes later where I wasn't laughing anymore as I followed the story and kept my mouth shut.
Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are looking for work at a cattle ranch in the late 1960's where they have to take a flock of sheep from one part of the ranch to another without having too many or losing any of the creatures. From there they start a bond where one night the bond starts to deepen where Jack falls for Ennis but not before being pushed into sex which they agree to only do so in the tent and not say a word about it to anybody.
Years later after the little stunt, Ennis and Jack go their separate lives where both of them are married to women and have families. Jack is working in a business that his wife's father owns while Ennis is working odd jobs just to make ends meet and still remember his pride as a man but nothing could stop them from falling for one another where they try secretly to meet with each other until realizing that their secret relation is damaging their lives and those that surround them.
Ang Lee directs this movie where even though I'm familiar with some of his action works in "Hulk" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" the film is what Roger Ebert said about most of Lee's films, including this one, that it's about misguided characters who deal with consequences.
The performances are outstanding, especially by the two male leads (Ledger and Gyllenhaal) who prove that they could step outside the teen movies and show serious acting. The same goes for the female performances as well from Michelle Williams who plays Alma, Ennis's wife and Anna Hathaway, who breaks out of her Disney Princess Diaries shell, to play Gyllenhaal's wife Lureen Newsome.
This film won't appeal to everybody, including those who were raised by moral ethics, but it proves that a non-American director and four former teenage actors can show what they have to make a great movie.