Brokeback Mountain – 2005
This film has come to be known as the Gay Cowboy movie, and while it is that… kind of… it is so much more. In my mind, it isn’t really a “gay” movie. It is a tragic romance, first and foremost. It just happens to be about two men. And really, I’m undecided as to whether both the main characters were actually gay or not. If I really had to put labels on them, I’d say that the character of Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, was gay, but living in denial. Ennis Del Mar, played by Heath Ledger, was bisexual, but leaning towards straight.
The reason I say this is because of their lives outside their relationship, which we’ll get to in a bit. Jack was shown having sex with other men, and he was eventually beaten to death, presumably because of his homosexual behavior. The only man Ennis was ever attracted to was Jack. That being said, it was clear that the two men were deeply in love with each other, both physically and emotionally.
So here’s the story. Ennis and Jack are strangers when they are hired by Joe Aguirre, played by Randy Quaid, to herd a large flock of sheep through the Wyoming Mountains. Out in the wilderness, the two men fall in love with each other and begin a passionate affair. When the job is done, they go their separate ways, though Jack wants to know when they’ll be together again. Ennis is shown privately weeping at their parting.
Ennis gets married to his sweetheart, Alma, played by Michelle Williams. They have two little girls. Ennis seems to be a good husband and a loving father. But his world is thrown into chaos when he gets a postcard from Jack, asking him to go on a fishing trip. The prospect of seeing Jack again lights up Ennis’ soul and when the two finally see each other again, their passion for each other is immediately reignited. One of the most awkward moments in the film is when Jack and Ennis are seen kissing each other by Alma.
By this time, Jack has married Lureen, played by Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a wealthy man, and the two have a son together. But he is ready to throw everything away at the prospect of being with Ennis. The two begin taking frequent fishing trips just to spend time together. Their love continues to deepen. He asks Ennis to throw caution to the wind and buy a ranch with him so they can be together forever. But it is too much for Ennis, and they argue.
But their love is too strong. Though Ennis cannot commit to a homosexual life with Jack, he cannot stop loving him. Even after he and Alma get divorced, Ennis can’t do it. On their final fishing trip, the two argue again. Jack blames Ennis for denying what they could have together, and Ennis blames Jack for the difficult way his life has turned out. It is here that Jack utters that famous line, “I wish I knew how to quit you.” It is clearly a tale of star-crossed lovers. They want to be together, but the world is keeping them apart. Then, when Jack is murdered, Ennis has to deal with loneliness and depression. But he keeps a memento of Jack and the time they spent together when they fell in love on Brokeback Mountain.
Everyone from the two leads to the women they married did a great job. I have to give special props to Michelle Williams who gave an especially deep performance. And I loved the character of Ennis. There was no trace of Ledger’s native Australian accent. Instead, he played the Wyoming rancher perfectly. Though Ennis was a man of few words, Ledger was very convincing in the role.
This was also the year that there was a big upset at the Oscars. Brokeback Mountain was the favorite to win the Best Picture award, but it lost the honor to Crash. Having seen both films, I agree, Brokeback Mountain should have won. So why didn’t it? Some critics accused the Academy of being homophobic. Annie Proulx, the Author of the original short story upon which the film is based, even intimated that Scientologists had something to do with the decision. But I tend to take a more simplistic view. The Academy just thought Crash was the better movie. And they weren’t the only ones. Famous film critic, Roger Ebert, agreed.
Brokeback Mountain was directed by Ang Lee, the same man who directed another well-known Best Picture nominee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And part of the film’s success is the fact that it followed the source material very closely. In fact, Proulx has been quoted as saying, “I may be the first writer in America to have a piece of writing make its way to the screen whole and entire.” When will filmmakers realize that if you stick to the source material, you will have a better movie? This seems to be a fact that is proven over and over again in Hollywood, and yet is so often ignored. There is a reason why the book is popular, so why would you change it. Well, Ang Lee didn’t, and Brokeback Mountain has become one of the most honored films of all time, winning numerous awards outside the Oscars, all of which were well-deserved. The film was so well-crafted as to be more than just a movie. It almost felt like art.