“Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features)
Love Among the Cowboys
“Brokeback Mountain” is a phenomenon. It has entered the vernacular with a special meaning when the phrase “That’s so Brokeback” is used. Not content just to be the first gay cowboy movie, it is now one of the most acclaimed and awarded films of the past year. Love it or hate it, you have to admit it has become what Hollywood strives to make – a must see film!
The movie tells the story of Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal). They meet when they are both hired to tend sheep up on Brokeback Mountain, Before this summer they did not know each other, but once they are up on the mountain a sexual fascination develops between them. They act on their urges and this begins a summer long affair between the two men.
When the summer ends the two men go their separate ways. Each meets and marries a woman and has children with her. Ennis marries Alma (Michelle Williams) and Jack marries Lureen (Anne Hathaway). They seem content in their wedded lives, but the bond between the two men pulls them back together. They share a hunting trip and their passion is re-ignited. Because they do not feel they can be open about their love, tragedy ensues.
All of this is told over a span of twenty years or more, and it is presented in episodic fashion. The men get together and then separate for a few years, then they get together again. And in between meetings their lives go on as they deal with their wives and children.
Ledger is very good as the laconic Ennis. Of course he is helped by the fact he is paired with Williams who is pitch perfect as Alma. She is the heart of the film and the most tragic person on screen. Gyllenhaal and Hathaway never achieve the connection in their performances that the other couple does.
The opening scenes in the movie are slow and ponderous. You get a lot of shots of beautiful scenery but you are impatient for the story to get started. Once it does the audience is subjected to a tale told in bits and pieces. There is no continuing flow in the film but rather a jerky association of scenes that span time and place.
The movie is rated R for profanity, violence and nudity.
“Brokeback Mountain” is a film that relies on the shock value of its story to attract an audience. Once they have been brought in, the movie fails them by not building a fuller story of these two men and their tragic love affair. “Brokeback Mountain” is beautiful to watch but ends up being less than filling in the content of the plot.
I scored “Brokeback Mountain” a westernized 5 out of 10.
