Brokeback Mountain

This film is, in my opinion, one of the greatest love stories of all time. It's disappointing that a lot of ignorant people, (ie, chauvinistic men) refuse to see the film because the affair is between two men. In reality, their love for each other is so strong and inspiring that you don't even notice that it isn't a conventional relationship.

All I can say that Brokeback Mountain is one of the movies that will say on my mind always, the direction , acting,plot are just perfect!!!It's kind of movie that stays on your mind long after the credits ...in fact I couldn't take it off my mind for months... wanted talk about it .etc!!!

I agree with the comment about the unintelligible dialogue. If writing is important, make it possible to understand what's written. Strong accents can be made intelligible by not allowing the actor to swallow his lines. Heads up, Kevin Costner, that means YOU, too.

I've only seen Brokeback Mountain once, last year. At the time I was annoyed that the women, especially Heath's wife, were portrayed as unattractive. I realize the point of view was the men's, but I didn't think the script was being fair to the women, that we should have seen more depth. Now, however, after considering it for an entire year, I realize that any anxiety over their sexual situation that the men felt would of course be projected onto their loved ones. It was only up in the mountains that they had their freedom. And they were just average guys, not heroes, so why would they see beyond their own emotional fences? What my misunderstanding reflects, I suppose, is the history of benign treatment of women in films. I'm just not used to seeing good women treated unfairly by the film's writer and director, and that unique treatment is one of the reasons this film is so honest (except for the sheep part, of course).

From the moment Brokeback Mountain opens, with a mournful score conveying bits of deep sadness, a sorrowful wind blowing through shots of western scenery, you are connected and drawn into this film. It is the movie of a lifetime.

The opening scenes cut to Signal Wyoming in 1963, where two cowboy-hatted men, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, end up waiting, exchanging furtive glances outside a trailer that seems a bit like the rest of town - worn and forgotten. Not a word is exchanged between them, and the silent wait seems endless.

Later, they're hired as sheepherders, and eventually make acquaintances. During introductions, when Ennis only states "Ennis", Jack wryly responds "Your folks stop at Ennis?" Ennis simply replies "Del Mar", and your heart goes out to them both, a more open Jack, a shut off Ennis, perhaps caught up in circumstances not of their making.

The next day, they head up Brokeback Mountain, sheep in tow. Once up there, secluded in the beauty of the natural world that is the Mountain, Ennis and Jack settle down into their jobs, yet develop an easy going friendship. Separated from the world below, they are more relaxed, natural, and free of a society that we learn has been a little damaging and crippling.

Weeks into the work, on a cold, moonlit night, Ennis and Jack find themselves sharing one of their tents for extra warmth. Here, their platonic relationship erupts into a love affair. The turn catches them both by surprise, and Ennis can only acknowledge it by stating "you know I ain't queer" to which Jack responds "me neither".

The sheep-herding job eventually ends, and they have to make their way off the Mountain. Down below, back in society, they instinctively separate, and do so quickly, with Ennis more or less telling Jack "see you around." Your heart breaks, not just for their love that seems possible, but for our world that renders it impossible.

For the next four years both men lead typical, socially acceptable lives, with Ennis in Wyoming and Jack in Texas, marrying and having children. Then, in 1967, Ennis receives a postcard from Jack indicating that he will be in Wyoming, and wanting Ennis to let him know if he were still there. Ennis rushes to reply, writing "You bet".

When both men finally meet, it is obvious that the emotions first experienced up on the Mountain have not waned. After hugging closely and tightly, Ennis and Jack collide violently into each other, kissing hungrily and passionately. The fire ignited between them remains, having burned just under the surface for four long years.

The men then embark on a life-long relationship, meeting up on the Mountain for "fishing trips", yet never fishing, only keeping their love alive, out of society's reach. It is when they are together that Ennis and Jack truly experience happiness, otherwise unknown in their lives lived down below.

Yet, in 20 years, their relationship will remain only one of sorts, for it will never be allowed to mature. During a poignant moment on one fishing trip, Ennis reveals the center upon which this immaturity will revolve. He relates to Jack his childhood memory of seeing a dead man prostrate in a ditch, beaten to death because he lived with another man. Despite many of Jack's pleadings to build a "sweet life" together, somewhere, anywhere, Ennis will remain firm in his resolve with a "if you can't fix it, you got to stand it" mentality.

In addition to excellently revealing Ennis and Jack's relationship, the movie adeptly explores the impact of that relationship on their wives, Alma and Lureen respectively. Alma is irrevocably impacted by her husband's infidelity that she has seen but does not grasp, referring to Jack as "Jack Nasty." Lureen, never having witnessed the affair, is fairly cynical about her marriage, seeing her husband rush off to visit his "fishing buddy."

As with any great love story, there is the final "something" that keeps the lovers apart, the tragedy itself. Brokeback Mountain is no different in that aspect, and the tragedy is revealed sometime in the 80's toward the end of the film; and a grand tragedy it is. Your heart, breaking throughout the film, finally bursts at the finality, for the lovers and for our world that perhaps wills the tragedy, accepts it and survives on it.

As the movie ends and the credits roll, you must somehow collect the pieces of your heart, whatever is left, and will yourself to move. As you walk out of the theater and into society, seeing other movie-goers sobbing, you experience the hope that perhaps hearts and minds have been changed this day. The thought occurs to you then that love is truly universal, and the world be damned if it says otherwise. And you know for sure that you have just watched the movie of a lifetime called Brokeback Mountain.

Commonly referred to as 'the gay cowboy movie', this adaptation of Annie Proulx's 1997 short story could easily have drowned under the weight of its sensitive subject matter. A lesser director might have been tempted to either water down the rawness of the material (lest anyone be offended by the sight of two men displaying affection for each other) or strive to politicize the story and make it a 'message' movie about society's conflicting views towards homosexuality. Thankfully, Ang Lee (the Taiwanese helmer of such varied fare as CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY and THE HULK) takes the riskiest route of all by keeping the focus squarely on the characters and their very personal plight, striving for - and achieving - a level of intimacy and honesty in his storytelling that prevents the movie from ever feeling gimmicky or insincere. In Lee's capable hands, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - both the fictional place and the film itself - becomes a metaphor for forbidden love that transcends gender or sexual orientation.

Spanning twenty years, the tale recounts the unlikely relationship of two ranch hands who meet - and fall in love - during a summer job herding sheep on the mountains of Wyoming in 1963; keenly aware of the impossibility of a life together, they find wives and start families, with only occasional "fishing trips" on Brokeback to satiate their longing for each other not exactly the easiest material to pull off, huh? With little more than the splendorous natural beauty of the mountain ranges to distract the eye, proper casting is crucial, and again Ang Lee's instincts are rock-solid. The acting here is uniformly strong, but Heath Ledger - as the shy, introverted ranch hand Ennis Del Mar - is the standout here. Between the two men, it is Ennis who most struggles with his feelings and who fights to bottle them, and Ledger conveys his agonising inner struggle in a brave, deeply moving performance that is arguably the year's best. As the decidedly more open and exuberant Jack Twist, Jake Gyllenhaal earns his rep as one of Hollywood's most talented young actors, while Anne Hathaway and especially Michelle Williams bring both pathos and grit as the neglected wives who come to learn in their own time that, well not much fishing ever gets done on ol' Brokeback.

In its own soft-spoken, elegiac manner, the film speaks to some of the messier aspects of romantic love that so few movies adequately capture (i.e. love creeps up on you when you least expect it; love can be downright inconvenient; love is all-consuming; love just plain hurts sometimes). These observations are hardly newsworthy; Shakespeare's 'Romeo And Juliet' has been teaching high school students about the prickliness of love for longer than any of us can remember. Still, it is the rare movie that articulates these thoughts with such maturity and feeling. By the time the film reaches its mournful yet curiously optimistic ending, you better appreciate Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous assertion that "'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.'Despite the profound, indescribable anguish both men experience as a result of their bond, it's clear than neither one of them would have traded away a single moment together.

Given the extensive press coverage its release has garnered (not to mention a plethora of awards and rave reviews), the movie's title has managed to enter the pop culture lexicon in record time. Concurrently, being the butt of many a joke on late-night TV talk shows has caused its 'gay cowboy movie' nickname to only grow in prevalence. Since this criminally na ve epithet hardly does the film justice, allow me to come up with an equally simplistic moniker of my own: the daring, heartfelt BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is, simply put, the best movie of 2005.

The first problem with Brokeback Mountain came within the first 20 minutes when I was not able to understand the dialogue. The accents may have been accurate, but in an attempt at gruff macho realism, all the actors were initially unintelligible. I began to think that I would have to view the movie again on DVD with the subtitles on. Fortunately, either my ear became attuned or changes occurred after viewing the rushes. Although matters improved, I realise my initial annoyance may have affected my enjoyment of the whole.

As to the 'gay' theme, I must give the producers, director and actors credit for dealing with this issue in such ultra conservative days. However, for me, this was not so much a story of two gays who 'found' each other, so much as two kindred spirits who found in each other the tenderness and unspoken understanding they had never found with anyone else, not even their respective spouses.

Certain inconsistencies in the plot and structure pulled this film down, while others raised the level. The performances were solid rather than outstanding.

If it were not for the fact that both characters were men, the repression and denial conveyed would be nothing out of the ordinary. This story asks us to consider what love is, and Ang Lee allows us to answer that question. Our answer can be profound or glib according to our mood and point of view, and while this ambiguous device often works on the page, it does not sit so well on film, at least not for me. The repression of Annis' emotions ultimately distanced me from caring for these men.

Brokeback Mountain, taken from a short story of the same name by E Annie Proulx, never manages to wrest itself from its limited origins. In 129 minutes we are presented with what is in essence a one premise plot line, and it is simply too slim either to draw us in, or ultimately make us care about the main characters. I like films which make me want to see them again. I've seen Brokeback Mountain, and sadly for such a fine director as Ang Lee and screen writers, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana - once is definitely enough.

Brokeback Mountain, though deemed the 'gay cowboy movie', is more than that. It is a tale between two young men (played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) who find love whilst herding sheep up on Brokeback Mountain.

Due to the time the piece is set in, it is unnatural for men to have relations with each other, and a person found to be pursuing homosexual relations could be killed.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the two men call the whole situation off and leave to get married and to raise a family.

Yet neither can forget their time up on the mountain, so they meet up again for a period of 20 years to be a part of 'one of the greatest love stories ever told'.

I have read so many rave reviews about this film that I decided to go and see it with a group of friends. All I can say is that if this film wins Best Picture at the Oscars, I will be sitting there thinking, 'What? How does that work then?'

Sure, the acting is great. Both Ledger and Gyllenhaal carry the 'gay man toying with his ideals on life' angle very well, and Michelle Williams (Heath Ledger's on-screen wife) is fantastic as the wife witnessing her marriage crumble due to her husband's unusual infidelity.

The acting does not however make up for a lacklustre plot line. Yes, the guys fall in love, but aren't together. This hasn't been done before. It starts incredibly slowly, and never gets up to speed. Some of the scenes (the endless showings of the two lovers meeting up) could have easily been avoided and cut the movie down to 2 hours long.

The whole film is made even more confusing by the time shifts. The people in the film are supposed to be ageing all the time. After all, it is a 20 year love affair. How do they show time differences? By dying Anne Hathaway's hair blonde (she plays Gyllenhaal's wife) and giving Jake Gyllenhaal a moustache.

Overall, my feeling is that this could have been the best film I ever watched. It had the controversial issue, the actors, the scenery, the director. But what was shown was a film where someone along the line just thought 'We can sell this film because it has never been done before.'

The problem is, this subject matter will be conquered again, and when it is, it will surely be done better.

Brokeback Mountain deserves so much more than to be called "that gay cowboy movie" as it is becoming known. It is the deeply sad and moving movie of two men, Jack and Ennis, who meet while working as shepherds (or cowboys) in 1963 in Wyoming on Brokeback Mountain. They strike up first a deep friendship, being each other's only companionship through the summer, and then a love affair. After the summer finishes, Ennis marries his sweetheart and Jack begins a career riding in rodeo's before also marrying a Texan. Four years later Jack visits, and the two men realise that the passion was not a flash in the pan, that they feel deeply for each other, and thus begins a twenty year affair only ever acknowledged in the wilds of Brokeback Mountain and never explicitly discussed.

Jack wants to run away with Ennis, to buy a ranch and be true to their feelings, but Ennis refuses to acknowledge his true feelings, he is scared of admitting to being a gay man in a place where he could be killed for expressing those feelings, and not very good at expressing himself at all, he chooses to suffer in silence for years. Ennis' wife knows, but there is no real indication as to whether Jack's wife knows.

This film was beautifully shot, well-scripted, and the acting deserves so many plaudits. Heath Ledger in particular, as Ennis, really proved his worth in this film. Ang Lee does an amazing job of showing the torment that these two men went through, not able to acknowledge their feelings publicly, as well as the torment of their loved ones who felt betrayed, but could also not bring themselves to speak about why. So much of the emotion in this movie, and the dialogue, is achieved through expressions and gestures rather than actual speech, it somehow makes the predicament more real and more human. The word 'love' is never used, as if to suggest that should one of the men dare say it there would be no going back and they were both far too frightened of that prospect.

This is a film worthy of any Best Picture nomination it will receive (and it will) and should be taken as a love story as universal and tragic as Romeo and Juliet. Go see this film!