Despite all the terms and comedic monologues that have been associated with the film Brokeback Mountain, as a “gay cowboy” movie, one of the many terms I find missing most are introspective and reflective. This is a film that stays with you, long after the final credits. This film has sparked long, intense discussions with friends, casual acquaintances, even strangers. These discussions usually occur hours or even days after the initial viewing because most find themselves in a state of stunned silence, looking inward for answers, then feeling the need to share.
Brokeback Mountain
4 & 1/2 Stars
At the start of the summer of 1963, two itinerate cowhands, the uber-quiet Ennis Del Mar (a surprising, excellent Heath Ledger) and a more animated Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal)sign up to herd sheep in the high country of Montana. Ennis’s situation is made clear when he departs from a bus and by the fact that his possessions fit into a small paper bag.
Surrounded by the scenic beauty of the mountain range, with its pristine waters and possible danger of a coyote or two, the pokes perform their duties. Herd boss, Joe Aquirre (played by a crusty Randy Quaid), insist that they have no illegal camp fires to keep warm and what should have been a routine herding job, turns for both men on a freezing night when they are forced to share a small tent, for warmth and possibly survival. During a strange dance of what seemed to be a form of rough and tumble boy’s play, the two become intimate.
Ennis, a man who has a hard time stringing more than three words together, declares this encounter a one time thing cause, “he ain’t no queer.” Throughout this almost, fairytale time, of herding, playing, the two men grow as close as Ennis allows them to. One feels as if this was the happiest period of their lives.
With their sheep gig over, the men disappear into their own worlds only to promise to return the next year, but boss man, Joe, refuses to hire them again.
Jack decides to go back to his life as an also-ran bull rider on the rodeo circuit, landing in Texas where he meets and marries, Lureen (Anne Hathaway), a rich, spitfire. Jack settles into his new life, working for his father-in-law’s combine dealership.
Ennis ends up in a small Wyoming town and marries Alma (Michelle Williams) and fathers two girls.
But, what fuels both of these men’s lives are their “fishing” trips to Brokeback Mountain, once, maybe twice a year. There, they can relive their first summer on the mountain, over and over.
As 1963 turns into 1973 and beyond, the two keep up the illusions of a family life. Jack, always restless, wants to stop the trips and try to live some idealized life on a ranch somewhere. But, Ennis, who is the loneliest soul in the world, does have a deep love for this daughters, especially Alma Jr., who he can not abandon.
Most of all, Ennis is unwilling to believe in Jack’s fantasy of a life together for them. He can not face what is truly in his heart. The rest of their lives is one of heartbreak, dangers and most of all a loneliness that can not be filled by anyone.
While the great director, George Stevens, was filming a pivotal scene in his 1951 classic, A Place in the Sun, an assistant informed him that Shelley Winters socks did not match a prior scene, whereas Stevens replied (and I am paraphrasing) that if the audience notices her socks, then he had failed and his perfect take stayed.
As I rode the emotional, mountain rollercoaster, I could not help but be distracted by small, but, significant choices director, Ang Lee, made. In other words, is there no way for all the makeup geniuses to age someone where it isn’t so obvious (Ledger’s body language was a more accurate guide to his aging) or better yet, when the script calls for a character to have a mustache, try and not let the audience be so aware that it is a phony, glued job.
That criticism aside, any film that can enter my head, my dreams and continues to stay with me, provoking internal dialogues about love, life, loves lost, never found, is a powerful film. All the alchemy that is required for a good film are there, from Larry McMurtry’s screenplay to the choices of the casting director, even the soundtrack.
It is a shame that so many people find the fact that Jack and Ennis would remain in the closet, suffering and sacrificing a life of love and possible happiness unbelievable . The fact is that Jack and Ennis’s story is still being lived today. In the future, maybe the social scientist will be able to explain the “closet” phenomenon. The complicated formula that is love and the pursuit of that loves takes courage and that is what our cowboys lacked.
Some may feel, at over two hours, this is a slow-moving film, but, viewers, pay attention or you will miss many subtle signs that Lee uses to further tell this story.