A Love That Will Never Grow Old

Rating: 9/10 (17 August 2006)

*SPOILERS, I swear...* When in 1963, the two young cowboys Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) met in Aguirre (Randy Quaid)'s office to look for a job, they didn't know that the coming summer was going to change their lives... forever.
While controlling sheep on Brokeback Mountain, the two end up falling in love (and making love), but Ennis' fears, deeply embedded in him since childhood from witnessing the mangled body of a supposedly gay ranchero, make him reject any sort of commitment to Jack; years go by, wives (Alma (Michelle Williams) and Lureen (Anne Hathaway)) come and go, children are born, but though tenuously, the bond stays, until one tragic day, Ennis receives a postcard he sent to Jack, stamped 'DECEASED'...
This is probably the most poignant romantic drama I have ever seen, especially because I could empathize with both characters involved (even though I was completely on Jack's side), while in a lot of the other films of this kind I yawn and think 'It's like the mountain which gave birth to the mouse'.
I don't think this movie could have been better written, acted and directed. It almost makes me sad that 'Crash' won Best picture and not Brokeback, but then again, I would have felt the same way if the positions were reversed..
And a special mention goes to the score and songs; I will never hear 'The Wings' or 'He Was A Friend Of Mine' the same way again.
A masterpiece. 9/10.