Brokeback Mountain

Obviously, the previews of two gay WY cowboys and their secret relationship in 1963 sounds like a predictable, less-than-original story. Yet it was captivating and brilliantly written, scripted and filmed with the beautiful scenery and emotionally moving music when the two guys meet, work together herding sheep, isolated together on Brokeback Mountain, and their romance that follows. Heath Ledger's portrayal of the reserved, cautious and willing-to-follow-societal norms, Ennis Del Mar, is spot-on, convincing and compelling. Jake Gyllenhaal's acting is stellar as the more ambitious, adventurous and less-afraid-to-"come out", Jack Twist.After their first encounter , after getting done working on Brokeback Mountain, they go their separate ways. Both marry women, with Ennis playing the traditional heterosexual husband and father role with Alma, with whom he raises two daughters, while remaining poor, working under-paying local ranching jobs with little aspiration for more. Whereas, Jack moves to TX after making money doing rodeos, not content to accept the limitations of staying in WY. He meets and marries Loreen, a rich Texas businessman's daughter, clearly showing his awkwardness with being a dad after she gives birth to their son, and maintaining a primarily business marriage, working as his father-in-law's sales manager and she as the bookkeeper. The two men find ways to sneak off and see one another privately at their sacred and discreet place, Brokeback Mountain, whenever they can. In a conversation, Jack expresses he sees no future with his marriage, but for the money, realizing his rich father-in-law would gladly cut him loose, aware that his daughter does not have a "real" marriage. Yet Ennis has deep-rooted fears about revealing his true love to anyone as he shares a horrific experience in his childhood of his own father proudly making his little boy aware of a local gay guy who was found out, mutilated, murdered and buried. He admits it's likely his father did the job himself. And he concludes he has no plans to change his current family life.We clearly see the striking differences in the two marriages, where both wives can detect their respective husband's secrets. Alma is clearly devastated and betrayed to discover Ennis' secret affair when she sees them kissing outside the house. Yet she does not reveal to her husband what she knows until after they've already divorced. Jack's marriage is completely different with his wife primarily his business partner. Once he finds out his lover has divorced, he rushes to be with him only to discover that Ennis has no plans to give up the life of a traditionally divorced dad. Ennis even finds a new girlfriend although both she and his daughters know he is not meant to be with a woman.We see a perfect portrayal of both of their respective family's Thanksgivings revealing what is going on with each of them. Ennis's worst fear is being found out by his family and community, when Alma admits, for the first time, to her ex that she knows his secret. As soon as he knows she knows about him and Jack, he's ready to become violent, storms out the door and loses it. We see Jack's Thanksgiving with his wife, young son and father-in-law who who raises objections over his grandson not being allowed to watch the football game, like a "real man", until he finishes his meal. For the first time, Jack angrily confronts him, affirming this is his house, he makes the rules and he threatens to knock the old man into next year if he can't accept that. Yet it's plain to see he's not so much upset over this argument as it is that he cannot be with the man he loves and has to continue living this lie.And so it goes with the two of them living their separate lives. Until one day when Ennis is on a pay-phone after it appears, for the first time, Jack has not arrived at their meeting place, as he has readily done, throughout the last 20 years. He calls and speaks to Loreen, who informs him in a very cold, robotic and unemotional manner, that Jack has died from an "accident". She informs him her husband was filling up a tractor tire which blew up on him, caused him serious injuries, for which it was too late to save his life after he drowned in his own blood. Clearly, this does not sound like an accurate cause of death, as we see, going through Ennis' mind, what, more likely, caused it, resulting from Jack being less than "discreet" about his sexuality. Ennis then returns to his home, a cheap rundown trailer which he is comfortable to stay in, when his now grown daughter comes to visit her father to inform him she is getting married. Although Ennis at first remembers he has a work commitment, he declares he will cancel to attend his little girl's wedding, invites her to have a glass of whiskey with him and toasts congratulations. Shortly thereafter, she's on her way and he's alone in the house where we see the memory he keeps in secret of the deceased love of his life. And he cries.This movie is so worth watching., emotionally moving, realistic and deserving of recognition for the writing, acting and production.

Purchased my own copy as this is one of my very favorite love stories.And I am NO gay ,,,MusicSettingActingSTORY ,,, the BEST !

Got this as a gag gift for a friend but now he keeps trying to get me to watch it with him. So I guess it's a really good movie

Sublime performances; incredible production and direction. Still miss Heath Ledger.

Brokeback Mountain has become a punchline in our culture, and I think that's a shame because it's really a pretty good movie. Near as I can tell, there are three camps of people who don't like it: those who will never accept a movie about homosexuality, those who think it's just too slow and long, and those who think its plot and characterization actually do a disservice to LGBT individuals. I have a few things to say to that last group:Brokeback Mountain is a tragic story about lovers who can't be together... so they're (ambiguously) gay this time, it's not really different than having them be from different races or social classes as is typical. Point is, most viewers knew this story wasn't going to turn out well just because of the genre. It's not punishing the main characters for having a homosexual relationship. I know it's about time we had some movies in which the gay characters got a happy ending--however, those movies will doubtless not be set in the American south in the 1960s.Another common complaint I see is that Ennis especially was not a sympathetic character, and that most viewers felt sorry for both men's neglected wives. My response to that is, don't you think you were supposed to? The women didn't do anything wrong. They got a raw deal too. But this is a movie about unhappy people, and furthermore, *imperfect* people. For crying out loud, do people expect every movie protagonist to be somebody they could be best friends with? I don't like Ennis, really; he's aggressive and cold to both Alma and Jack. That doesn't mean the story doesn't work, and that doesn't mean all gay(ish) people are implied to be unlikeable.Lastly, lots of people feel the homosexual scenes look awkward and observe the heterosexual relationships get more screentime. They've got a point about that second part, but I think the apparent difficulty that the actors have seeming intimate suits their characterization, even if it wasn't intentional. Jack is more comfortable with his orientation or whatever than Ennis, but neither of them really understands their own feelings or wants to be different from the norm. So if you're looking for a movie about the triumph of gay true love... maybe consider watching Maurice? The novel it's based on was considered subversive in its day for having a gay relationship turn out well. As I see it, though, Brokeback Mountain is about characters, not issues. It's not out to change the world; if you ask it to, you're going to be disappointed.