2008 Woodie Awards
Brokeback Mountain
Jason Keener
Issue date: 1/26/06 Section: Reviews
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"Brokeback Mountain," the new film by Ang Lee, is more commonly referred to as "that gay cowboy movie." This is a superficial reading of the film.
"Brokeback Mountain" is a film about two gay cowboys in the sense "Easy Rider" is about two motorcycle enthusiasts.
Most everyone by now knows the plot to some extent. Two men herd sheep in Wyoming in the early 60's and fall in love. They both take wives and raise children, but are unable, as one character puts it, to "quit" each other.
Relying on "fishing trips" every couple of months, they sneak away to the safety of the secluded mountains and act out their forbidden passion, as well as bond.
Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) is both a dreamer and a failure, able to conjure ideal situations but incapable of making them materialize. He has ambitious dreams of the two leaving their families behind and running a successful ranch together.
Ennis (Heath Ledger) is more realistic. He realizes the society that surrounds them. He recalls a grisly sight his father showed him when he was nine-years-old. A homosexual had been brutally murdered. Ennis is even suspicious that his father may have been involved in the killing.
This unsettling sight has made him repressed and perhaps self-loathing. Jack is more comfortable with his desires and realized that he would have to be the one to initiate their relationship.
Jack also has a more demanding need than Ennis when it comes to men. Unsatisfied with the frequency of their "fishing trips," he retreats to Mexico for a male prostitute.
Then there are the women in their lives. Alma (Michelle Williams) witnessed the two kissing upon reuniting after four years. She keeps quiet and does her best to accept it. Her position in the film is, as I find it, the most devastating and interesting.
And that is why the film is more than a meditation on forbidden desires. Affairs, cold marriages, over-bearing father-in-laws, divorce, employment, parental relationships with children, ambition, death and loneliness all play a part in this complex drama.
"Brokeback Mountain" is a film about two gay cowboys in the sense "Easy Rider" is about two motorcycle enthusiasts.
Most everyone by now knows the plot to some extent. Two men herd sheep in Wyoming in the early 60's and fall in love. They both take wives and raise children, but are unable, as one character puts it, to "quit" each other.
Relying on "fishing trips" every couple of months, they sneak away to the safety of the secluded mountains and act out their forbidden passion, as well as bond.
Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) is both a dreamer and a failure, able to conjure ideal situations but incapable of making them materialize. He has ambitious dreams of the two leaving their families behind and running a successful ranch together.
Ennis (Heath Ledger) is more realistic. He realizes the society that surrounds them. He recalls a grisly sight his father showed him when he was nine-years-old. A homosexual had been brutally murdered. Ennis is even suspicious that his father may have been involved in the killing.
This unsettling sight has made him repressed and perhaps self-loathing. Jack is more comfortable with his desires and realized that he would have to be the one to initiate their relationship.
Jack also has a more demanding need than Ennis when it comes to men. Unsatisfied with the frequency of their "fishing trips," he retreats to Mexico for a male prostitute.
Then there are the women in their lives. Alma (Michelle Williams) witnessed the two kissing upon reuniting after four years. She keeps quiet and does her best to accept it. Her position in the film is, as I find it, the most devastating and interesting.
And that is why the film is more than a meditation on forbidden desires. Affairs, cold marriages, over-bearing father-in-laws, divorce, employment, parental relationships with children, ambition, death and loneliness all play a part in this complex drama.