Brokeback Mountain

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© A.J. Malouin 2008

(Rating: 2 by Al)
(See our side-bar page “How Caryl & Al Rate Movies”)

(2005—Ang Lee —USA)

During an idyllic summer in 1963, two young people meet on Brokeback Mountain. They have both taken summer jobs working for a rancher gruffcharmingly portrayed by Randy Quaid.

One afternoon a summer snowstorm engulfs the mountain, and the two young people huddle for warm in the small tent the rancher has provided. In a tastefully done (and Very Brief) filmic episode, they engage in a sexual encounter.

The storm passes, the work continues, and the two young people part ways as their summer jobs evaporate. Both marry and raise their own families. The love and emotional connection they found on that mountain that summer continues to tug at them, however.

Four and a half years later, they arrange to meet again. Thus begins a 20-year commitment of honor and anguish that is only nourished by meetings twice a year, more or less, whenever the couple can get away from their day-to-day lives. These meetings go on until one of the lovers dies.

Our friend Annette has characterized the story line as the same as that of the movie Same Time Next Year. Al points out that there is a subtle difference between the two films, however. In Brokeback Mountain, the two sometimes-straying spouses are both men.

Worse yet (according to some) the two straying spouses are cowboys. One is a ranch hand and the other is a rodeo rider. This “gay cowboy love story” has broken the known world down into only two categories: (1) those who have seen it, and think it is a Great Film, and (2) those who will never see it, because it is “a gay cowboy love story.”

In the case(s) of Caryl & Al, Al falls into Category One and Caryl falls into Category Two. The comments about this film are therefore, of course, those gleaned by Al.

One-third of the way through the film, the viewer forgets that this is “a gay cowboy love story” and comes to view it as merely a “heart-wrenching love story.”

This sounds Impossible, but the story is Truly about love and not about gender. The story is sooooo well done that the viewer is swept into the conflicting emotions of the two lovers.

Heath Ledger, especially, as Ennis Del Mar, is conflicted throughout his life by the nature of this relationship. Quiet and reluctant, Ennis struggles throughout the film to make peace with his own feelings. The scene in which he visits the boyhood bedroom of his now-dead lover is one that will stay with viewers for a long, long time.

In addition to the two stunning performances given by Heather Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, “Brokeback Mountain” has many other pleasures to recommend it.

First of all, there is the scenery. The mountains of Wyoming (okay, it’s actually Canada playing the role of Wyoming!) provide a stunning backdrop for the story.

On Brokeback Mountains and on the plains of Texas, there is also a wonderful depiction of the life of a 1960s cowboy. Gritty, sparse, and financially challenged, it is a life filled with rusty pickup trucks and bare-bulbed living rooms above the laundry mat.

Jake Gyllenhaal, as Jack Twist, manages to escape this life by marrying the daughter of a combine dealer. That daughter, Lureen Newsome, is played wonderfully by Ann Hathaway.

The scene in which Lureen discusses the death of her husband Jack by telephone with Jack’s lover Ennis is, all by itself, worth the price of admission. Lureen is a blonde in white clothing, with white makeup, in a white room, holding a white telephone. In a tight close-up, we are mesmerized by her red lips as she details the events surrounding Jack’s death.

Superb performances are also turned in by Roberta Maxwell and Peter McRabble (he’s Scottish, you know!) as the parents of Jack Twist. When Ennis goes to visit them after the death of Jack, we are shown the achingly lovely and lonely childhood of Jack Twist. The wind-swept austerity of Jack’s childhood is, once again, all by itself worth the price of admission.

If you’re conflicted about whether to rent this amazing film, or not, you should know that all the physical stuff between the two males lovers is “tasteful” and brief. There may even be more heterosexual physical stuff, actually, than there is homosexual physical stuff. (Maybe.)

And, to repeat, one third of the way through the film, the viewer forgets about the gender issue. (Seriously. Several male viewers have said this to us.) Al urges everyone to rent this film; Caryl says “No way.”

(2 hrs 14. Rated R for sexuality, nudity, language and some violence.)