A Non-Traditional Love Story
Brokeback Overcomes Stereotypes and Expectations

I didn't want to see it. When I saw a preview for Brokeback Mountain, I shook my head and figured it was just another one of those "art" films. Assuming that such a film even made it to a Kansas theater, I was not likely to see it. I may be open-minded, but I honestly doubted that I could find it appealing. If not for the critical acclaim and the number of awards it had already received, I might have let this one slip away. Instead, my expectations were turned upside-down. The theme of the film was not overwhelmed by the homosexual relationship of the main characters. Brokeback Mountain is a touching love story.

Brokeback Mountain
Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal, left) and Ennis (Heath Ledger) tend to a flock of sheep during the summer of '63 on Brokeback Mountain. (Focus Features, 2005)
Directed by: Ang Lee
Written by: Larry McMurtry (screenplay) & Diana Ossana (screenplay), based on a short story by Annie Proulx
Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams

Rated R (for sexuality, nudity, language and some violence)
Running time: 134 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 9 out of 10.

The film begins in the summer of 1963. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are ranch hands who sign up to herd sheep for the summer. Circumstances demand that one of them illegally pitch a tent near the sheep at night to watch for wolves while the other maintains the base camp at the base of the mountain.

In the solitude of Brokeback Mountain, the two men discover a quiet affection for each other that suddenly transforms into a physical relationship. At the end of the summer, the two go back to their winter lives. Ennis returns to marry his fiancee Alma (Michelle Williams). Jack heads out on the rodeo circuit where he meets Lureen (Anne Hathaway) and soon goes to work for her father in Texas.

Years pass before the two men see each other again, but they immediately embrace with renewed passion. The hard fact, however, is that their relationship can never be more than what it is. Ennis had seen the awful truth of what happens to two men who live together in cowboy country. They would have to continue their lives apart from one another.

Over the years, the men continue to steal away time together. They spend a few weeks a year on Brokeback Mountain, living freely without needing to hide their love for each other. The two men come to view their relationship differently. Ultimately, this creates a rift.

Based on a short story by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was co-written by Diana Ossana and Pulitzer Prize-winner Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove and Terms of Endearment). The story possesses a reality that comes from solid characters and believable dialogue. The lives of the characters and the few words they speak ring true. At no point does the film seem disingenuous.

Director Ang Lee has received accolades from every corner for his direction of this sensitive subject. Lee, however, is no stranger to unconventional drama. In only a few short years he has made an impressive array of films including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Ice Storm, and the Civil War love story Ride With the Devil. His camera finds the perfect balance of humanity and nature, as if each character is a part of the wind, the storm, or the earth.

The acting in the film is amazing. I've known people from Wyoming, and I would have been hard pressed to tell Ledger from any of them. I was astounded that Ledger could immerse himself in a character so deeply. Gyllenhaal plays Jack with a tenderness and vulnerability that is offset by the character's lust for passion. Supporting performances by Williams and Hathaway are top drawer.

When I saw the previews for Brokeback Mountain, I wondered who was the target audience for such a film. I assumed that those who like westerns would be turned off by a homosexual relationship between cowboys and that gay men would be turned off by a cowboy movie. For those who take the time to look past the non-traditional story, however, the film is both breathtaking in its cinematography and stirring in its message of love and long-suffering relationships.