Review

Review Date: 18-December-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

There's a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us somewhere.
-- Stephen Sondheim, "West Side Story"

I'm sure it could be argued that everyone needs love (heck, over in Theater 3 a giant ape is dying for it), but in the long history of cinematic romance few characters have shown such a bone-deep hunger for it as Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain." As portrayed with profound eloquence and few words by Heath Ledger, Ennis is the kind of Western man with whom no one would ever consider discussing emotions. He's taciturn, detached, and practical, having learned as a child how to brace himself for the cold snap and the long haul. Yet from silent hour to silent hour, bitter year after bitter year, every impulse that defines Ennis' nature cries out to be fulfilled. "Brokeback Mountain" describes his yearning so beautifully that he comes to appear as both an individual and a representation of an emptiness that haunts the human core.

As the film opens in 1963, Ennis takes a job guarding sheep on the desolate slopes of Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming, which pairs him with another young wrangler named Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal). Although they hail from the same redneck environment (to which the graceful Taiwanese director Ang Lee seems perfectly attuned), Jack is a bold dreamer where Ennis is a sheltered soul. For months the duo shares lean meals and leaner conversations in their rugged version of paradise, and in time Jack leads Ennis into a sexual relationship which takes him completely by surprise. So much so that when their stint on the mountain ends, he doesn't suspect how much the encounter has changed him.

The bulk of the movie covers the next 20 years as Ennis and Jack do what's expected of them: get married, raise kids, and work when and where they can. Throughout it all, they continue their affair by means of quarterly "fishing trips" to the remote location where they fell in love. (The script by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana drags slightly during this process, but it conveys the pain of enduring lengthy periods of longing punctuated by brief intervals of bliss.) While Jack maintains a daring belief in his right to have what he wants, Ennis consistently refuses to pursue a permanent partnership that would pit them against society's definition of normal. His fear and lack of faith, which are not without reason, are what make the story so heartbreaking. Ledger almost magically communicates a loneliness as vast as the Wyoming sky, and the tale suggests that a happiness big enough to fill it might not exist within our reach. The prejudice that marks this story may someday be overcome, but perhaps none of us is meant to reside on Brokeback Mountain where love is free to roam.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.