Camping in the Wild West (Brokeback Mountain (DVD))

Member Name: Fairydustbitch

Product:	Brokeback Mountain (DVD)
Date:	09/02/06 (475 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic acting, beautiful cinematography, wonderful story.

Disadvantages: Perhaps a little long for some

Apologies in advance for the length of the review, I was trying to cut bits out but it makes it difficult to do this wonderful movie justice!

Arriving just in time for an Oscar nomination for its leading men, Ang Lee‘s intimate epic, “Brokeback Mountain” is the tale of forbidden love in the deep South with a twist…the love is between two men, living in a time and place where being gay is likely to have you lynched. Less of a gay cowboy movie and more of a universally resonant love story, Brokeback charts a relationship that lasts decades in an unchanging homophobic world.

Two ranch hands fulfilling every stereotype known to cowboykind are hired to drive a herd of sheep over Brokeback Mountain. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) is a taciturn lad who hides his feelings at all cost, while Texan rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) is far less inhibited than Ennis. They head up the mountain with the sheep. Usually one of the men sleeps near the sheep to make sure there are no casualties, but one night they get a tad drunk and end up sharing more than just a tent. The following day Ennis tells Jack “This is a one shot thing we got goin’ on here. You know I aint queer”. Jack responds in a much less convincing tone of voice, “me neither”. Nevertheless, away from prying and judgemental eyes, their relationship continues up in the wilderness, and fortunately reaches a level of tenderness after the ferocity of their first encounter. At the end of the summer, they go their separate ways, and continue to live lives that other people want them to. Ennis marries his sweetheart Alma and Jack gets involved with, and eventually marries, a rich rodeo queen named Lureen. A few years later, fate (or Jack Twist) comes a’calling for Ennis, and after an extremely hot but brief reunion scene which Ennis’ wife Alma unfortunately witnesses, they head up the mountain for a “fishing trip”. Their relationship continues like this over the years ; with clandestine meetings on Brokeback mountain until things start to go wrong. Well nobody said a movie about gay cowboys in the Bible Belt was going to be cheerful. Beginning in the sixties and following Jack and Ennis’ lives throughout the decades, Brokeback is like any star cross’d lovers story you have ever heard. The crux of the movie’s tragedy is that in the violently homophobic rural society , “coming out” is not an option.

“Brokeback Mountain” exceeds the hype. Beautifully acted and wonderfully shot, it deserves every nomination it has gained thus far. Heath Ledger is astonishing as Ennis and in my opinion this is the first film we see him proving his ability as an actor, his performance is a real breakthrough. Ennis is a man so concerned with the opinions of other people that he ruins his own life and those around him. Unable to communicate his true feelings through his gruff, introverted and very occasionally violent character; most of his emotions are expressed facially, and Ledger lives up to the role spectacularly, filling the character of Ennis with an aching humanity where he could so easily be seen as the bad guy of the piece. When Ennis speaks it sounds as thought the words are beating their way out of him, and his manner betrays a massive depth of feeling under the grumpy surface.

Jake Gyllenhaal is equally brilliant as the much more easy-going Jack, bringing a remarkable charm and a lightness of character that contrasts Ennis perfectly. Unlike Ennis, Jack cares more for love and less for the opinion of others; he doesn’t suffer from the suppression of his desires and his personality that are probably going to give Ennis an early heart attack. He has a childish streak in him; telling him that love is all that matters, when the reality of the homophobic world the two men live in proves him wrong time and time again. Unable to accept the reality of the world he lives in, he pleads with Ennis, clearly a staunch realist, to leave his farcical life behind and instead live a happy one with each other. Who cares if society outcasts them?

The supporting actors give fine performances as well, with Michelle Williams particularly fine as Ennis’ wife, like Ledger she delivers a performance that will pretty much smash all previous notions of her ability, and she is truly deserving of her Oscar nomination this year. Anne Hathaway is fine as Jack’s girlfriend; who starts out as a feisty and fiery gal but ends up turning into a cold, stern business woman with a cold, dead marriage, but with limited screen time she doesn’t really impress the way the others do.

The setting and camera work is breathtaking, with sweeping panoramic views of stunning mountain scenery and its easy to understand why this is Jack Twist’s favourite place to be; it provides a poignant contrast with the cluttered interiors that restrict Jack and Ennis is more ways than one. Ang Lee heightens the thematic contrast between the freedoms of the natural world and the shackles of domestic life with ingenious use of sound. The beautiful but wild and brutal setting of the film complements its tone perfectly; its almost painfully beautiful but also harsh, and isn’t painted as some pretty picture postcard. The film manages to take an offbeat subject and turn it into a mainstream movie that a wide range of movie goers will enjoy…both the arty crowd and fans of mainstream film will be hard pressed not to love this.

The storyline is very slow, and the movie is long, but it all adds to the films slow building of tension as one relationship after another is ruined by Jack and Ennis’ true feelings. You find yourself feeling for so many of the characters: because of the repressive society they live in, their affair has the potential to ruin not only their own lives but the lives of their wives and children. The plot is wonderfully crafted and I left the cinema crying buckets of tears…a rare thing for me. Brokeback Mountain is not at all what I pictured it would be like…and it definitely ascends the simplistic label of “gay cowboy movie”. The plot does lost its momentum a little after the first forty minutes or so, and it could be argued that the first hour of the film is a lot stronger than the last hour, as the plot tends to dither about a bit at this point, but its all brought together beautifully with a heartbreaking ending which ties everything up beautifully.

Jack and Ennis’ relationship is alternately painful and wonderful to watch, but it’s a believable and beautiful portrayal whether the two are kissing or beating each other up (sometimes its hard to tell which is which).The preliminary awkwardness when the two meet gives way to grudging approval on Ennis’s part of this man who is pretty different to him, despite being from a similar background, which gives way to an initially aggressive affair, which in turn gives way to love and an acceptance of each others flaws- Jack’s ability to live in a fairy land where gays are accepted in deep South societies, and Ennis inability to allow himself to be happy, because of his grim (and quite possibly accurate) predictions of the consequences. Ennis is clearly uncomfortable with his sexuality whereas Jack would definitely be “out and proud” if society would just allow him to be. It all starts out in an extremely violent fashion, which gay rights campaigners are probably not going to be happy about. At first Ennis refuses to even let the visibly more gentle Jack kiss him, preferring to get straight down to full-on sex…strangely the initial sex scene between them reminds you more of a prison rape scene than an intimate moment between two consenting adults (which it is)…but it proves a wonderful testament to Ennis’ quietly seething character, and it is not at all typical of the love between him and Jack that develops after the initial encounter. The awkwardness and almost brutality of the first love scene is one of the movie’s high points, with Ennis seemingly on the verge of hitting Jack but at the same time completely unable to let him go…the intimacy between the two of them is unbelievable and takes your breath away. Later, Jack and Ennis develop an intimate understanding of each other but they really know how to wind each other up and now and then an intimate embrace or a play fight turns into a brawl. The initially scuffling, fumbling relationship between the two men is wonderfully portrayed, and despite the outside appearance that its all about sex and rough-housing, its clear they have an incredible depth of feeling for each other.

Those blokes who are feeling squeamish about seeing a movie about gay lovers will be glad to know that there isn’t actually much in the way of sexual content between the two leading men…after the initial love scene its mostly just riding horses over the mountains, kissing and snuggling…or fighting. The lack of this sort of content has led to some critics calling the relationship one based on lust, but that is an incredibly simplistic opinion, you don’t even have to scratch the surface to see how much Jack and Ennis love each other, even if their tough ways don’t allow them to admit it. The result is that a lot is left to our imaginations; something which modern cinema rarely allows us to do, and the film is all the better for it not depicting graphic sex. To me this movie is less a statement about how gay relationships take place and more about forbidden love…the fact that its two men is besides the point, and we shouldn’t have to turn what is a beautiful movie into a social commentary on the director’s view of gay relationships. Its about two particular people in a particular time and a particular place, not every gay man everywhere.

The main flaw I can think of in the movie itself is the total ridiculousness of the makeup used to make everybody look older over the years. It makes the story hard to believe when a forty-something Ennis looks younger than his teenage daughter, and it takes more than a ridiculous porn star moustache, a fake beer gut and a few grey streaks to make Jake Gyllenhaal look suitably mature in the latter years of the relationship. It’s a superficial problem to be fair, but it really does impact on the believability of the movie, of course aside from bringing in totally different actors to play a more mature Jack and Ennis there is little else that could be done. Aside from this I cant imagine a more perfect way for Annie Proulx’s short story to have come to life.

This movie doesn’t have an agenda, its not trying to be one of those “issue” movies, and its not trying to shove gay rights in your face. Regardless of this, you may well leave the cinema with a different opinion to when you went in. All in all, most of the shortcomings surrounding this movie are not shortcomings with the movie itself but the social environment its been released in. Its certainly the first “gay” film I’ve noticed being marketed to a mainstream audience in a long time with such success, and all I have to say on that count is its about bloody time. When you get past all the hype, the protests of the ultra-conservative Christians, the derogatory comments and jokes and the inevitable questions about the sexuality of the lead actors, what you are left with is a moving, tragic and amazing movie, one that deserves to do well because it’s a damn fine film, not because it deals with a topic that is still controversial, and not because it has become notorious for its subject matter, or the fact that you get to see two hot men making out in it (the latter is just an added benefit for the lasses). Drop all your preconceptions of what you think its going to be and go and see it…its an order!

Summary: Its like Romeo and Juliet...but with two hot cowboys.