Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Grade:A
To call a film “haunting” seems utterly cliché. It’s a term that’s been used so often that its meaning seems to have dissipated. However, there’s really no other word I can think of to best describe the feeling I have from watching Ang Lee’s new masterpiece, Brokeback Mountain. This is a film that affects you most afterwards; after letting the impact of the tragic story settle, the weight of the film carries much more impact. In a word, haunting.
Part of the hesitation I have in reviewing this film is in heaping too much praise upon it. This film is most certainly deserving of the superlatives that I am about to bestow it, but part of the problem with critical successes like Brokeback Mountain is that the hype creates an almost unachievable level of superiority for first-time viewers. Recently, I viewed Annie Hall for the first time, a film widely praised as a classic, and while it was certainly good, it didn’t live up to the hype.
So I don’t want to hurt this film by praising it as much as practically every other critic has, as contradictory as that sounds. But I can’t help myself. Brokeback Mountain really is that good.
It is fairly well known that this is “that gay cowboy movie.” While this is certainly accurate, it’s unfairly general. Yes, Brokeback Mountain is about gay cowboys, but at its heart, this is a tragically beautiful love story, one of the best and most emotionally affecting in the history of cinema. The film opens with sparsely beautiful shots of Wyoming. Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are two ranch hands in search of work for the summer. They both get assigned to a job on Brokeback Mountain herding sheep; one sleeps with the sheep, another sleeps down at camp.
Lee takes his time setting up the story of the film, allowing the audience simply to observe. Of course, most everyone is now aware that these two eventually fall in love while on the mountain, so Lee’s patience allows us to become familiar with these characters individually as they get to know each other. Family histories are revealed, and a genuine bond between them forms.
There is of course the requisite sex scene that some reviewers have deemed unnecessary, but it is quite crucial to the brilliance of the film. This is a groundbreaking film that doesn’t seem to know it’s groundbreaking. Shying away from more graphic elements of their relationship would cheapen the film and the story. Their first sexual encounter is one of confusion and aggression; we’re about as surprised that they’re having sex as they are.
From this sexual encounter develops true love. Jack is the more aggressive pursuer of a relationship, but there is a crucial scene, coming not too far after their initial sexual encounter, where Ennis comes into Jack’s tent. Jack lies inside, tentatively awaiting what might or might not happen. When it does, the bond between them is sealed. Ennis furtively enters, and instead of confusion and aggression, there is merely confusion. Jack seems to know what Ennis needs, but Ennis doesn’t exactly know how to handle his own feelings.
This is a theme that reoccurs throughout the film as they both come down from the mountain. Jack remains the more aggressive pursuer, sending a postcard to Ennis four years later suggesting they meet again. Both are married now, Jack to Lureen (Anne Hathaway) and Ennis to Alma (Michelle Williams). As the film progresses and the two of them meet at increasingly sporadic intervals, trying to hold on to what they had on Brokeback, the heartbreak of the film slowly settles in. Jack suggests they buy and run a ranch somewhere, but Ennis knows all too well what would happen if they were discovered. He recalls an experience from his childhood in which his father brought he and his brother to view the bloodied corpse of an old ranch hand who lived with another man. It’s never made clear if they were gay or not, but the idea that they may have been is enough to promote the murder.
There’s no doubt that Ennis and Jack love each other with every ounce of their being, but there seems to be no feasible way for them to be together. There aren’t a lot of physical relations between the two shown, but that’s the point. Theirs is a relationship built upon yearly or twice-yearly “fishing trips” to Brokeback Mountain for “high-altitude fucks,” as Jack calls them. To see too much physicality between them would ring false; their connection may have originated from physical attraction, but the connection they share goes deeper than just sex.
Lee is certainly a gifted director here, but it is ultimately the acting that solidifies this film as a masterpiece. Ledger and Gyllenhaal commit themselves to their roles fully and don’t shy away from the more physical aspects of Jack and Ennis’s relationship. Credit them also for committing themselves emotionally to their respective roles. Both have critical moments to sell and they both deliver.
Gyllenhaal isn’t receiving as much awards consideration as he deserves; this is partly due to the surprise that Heath Ledger can actually act, but also because he has a smaller role emotionally. However, as these characters age, Gyllenhaal does so the most convincingly and it’s not just through makeup and graying, it’s mainly through subtle mannerisms (odd that he can pull off 39 here infinitely more successfully than 26 in Proof). He’s also the emotional core of the final encounter between Jack and Ennis.
Ledger does a magnificent job, too, although there are a few moments that don’t quite ring true (most notably at Jack and Ennis’s final meeting) and a few moments when his accent slips or goes overboard (he mumbles a lot of his lines, which is obviously a manifestation of his character’s repressed love and inwardness). However, the final moments, visiting Jack’s parents, are truly stunning through his portrayal of quiet heartache.
Of the lead actresses, Michelle Williams is garnering all the awards hype, and it is certainly warranted, but Anne Hathaway is just as deserving in her smaller role. Both have critical scenes: Williams, as her Alma happens to catch Jack and Ennis as they passionately kiss outside and Hathaway as Lureen shares a crucial phone call with Ennis. Williams conveys shock, outrage, confusion, and reservation all in the space of about three seconds with no dialogue. Hathaway translates years of heartbreak and an immense moment of understanding in the space of about a half a second with a mere throat tick. Anna Faris also adds a legitimate role to her résumé here with a cameo as a fast-talking Texas wife; she’s very effective with little screen time. Finally, Linda Cardinelli does all that she can with a small role as a suitor of Ennis.
We are a society that has become so accustomed to having our genre expectations fulfilled when we see a film. Even for a film with material as original as this, there are bound to be expectations: as a Western and a love story that spans decades, we assume that the film will be epic. The trailer for the film supports this preconceived notion. Music from The Shawshank Redemption with sweeping strings plays over vast shots of mountains, plains, and emotionally charged scenes of Ledger sobbing into what is presumably Jack’s jacket. Lines such as, “I wish I knew how to quit you!” and, “you have no idea how bad it gets!” pop up. This is all well and good, but, like “that gay cowboy movie,” it is an inaccurate portrayal of the film.
Ultimately, Brokeback Mountain is far from epic; rather, it is intensely personal. A friend said of the film, “if it worked harder, it could have made me cry.” This is not a film that caters to the lowest common denominator in its audience and spells out the emotions it is presenting. Lee has enough confidence in his story to let it speak for itself; you may not cry during the film, but once the story sets in, you’re much more likely to. Credit composer Gustavo Santaolalla, too, for crafting a score that matches the melancholy of this story and doesn’t provide the sort of sweeping epic violins that we would expect in this story and that aren’t needed in the film.
Every so often, a film comes along that reaffirms your faith in film as a craft. Brokeback Mountain is such a film. This is a film that reminds you that there is still creativity in Hollywood and producers that will take risks on projects that are worth taking risks on. Roger Ebert has said, in reference to Crash, “I believe that occasionally a film comes along that can have an influence for the better, and maybe even change us a little.” For this viewer, Brokeback Mountain is that film. Viewing these two characters and what they endure to hold onto their love, you can’t help but appreciate life a little more. This is an uncompromising look at a love between two people that may last through the ages, but through circumstances out of their control, just cannot be. In short, it’s the best film of 2005.
Read about Brokeback Mountain at my 25 Films I Really Liked From The Aughts article.
Bottom Line:
Brokeback Mountain is the most emotionally affecting and haunting film I’ve ever seen, deserving all the awards and accolades it has received. To call this movie a “gay cowboy” movie is indeed accurate, but unfair; this is one of the greatest love stories in the history of cinema.
© 2004-2009 Ben Waldorf. Posted December 08, 2005. IMDB