Brokeback Mountain Review

A few days ago, my friends and I went to see the critically acclaimed yet highly controversial movie, Brokeback Mountain. I admit that I too remained a little apprehensive as I sat down in my seat beside my straight male friend and my four other girl friends. None of us really knew what to expect. However, as soon as the first frames of the film began rolling, I found myself immediately drawn into the stillness of the Albertan landscape that enveloped the theatre made all the more magnificent by the swelling music guided by a single classical guitar. No words were uttered for the first ten minutes but the silent acting of both Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal clearly spoke for itself. The story itself took us through twenty years of intense emotional suffering over a lost love, interspersed with moments of pure happiness that live with the actors until the end (and seemingly, beyond the physical end of the film through its reflection on the personal experiences of the audience). As many have said, at surface value, this story could easily be tossed into a box cluttered with other bi-curious themed movies, but such an all encompassing box contains none equal the calibre and artistic delicacy Brokeback Mountain has achieved. The story explores many themes beyond sexuality such as repression, loss, and facing adulthood, and the love story itself could apply not only to men, but to any two individuals forced to part with a feeling so vital to existence that it guides the rest of their lives.

If I have any harsh criticism against this movie, it would not be against the actors who carried their roles as struggling homosexuals in a homophobic world brilliantly (particularly Heath Ledger, who I have developed a bit of a crush on!), but against Ang Lee who in trying to gently push the theme of homosexuality out into the open simultaneously strains the relationship between the two actors by tiptoeing around the theme itself. At many times, their meetings appear forced and the constant reliving of the events at Brokeback Mountain can become somewhat monotonous as their feelings are never resolved. The ending, too, was predictable as a love such as this could not be properly resolved without the story appearing cheesy or stepping into the realm of the unreal. As Heath character implies, there is no life for those who are different in a homogeneous society such as the South during the 1960's.

Finally, I would like to say that the music, more than anything else, brought me to tears at the end of the movie. (And yes, I paid the 99 cents through my brother's ITunes to get my hands on the short but sweet theme song!) Ennis' pain, through Heath's acting and the music, was made as real as the pain I have experienced during my own life, to the extent that the two were momentarily inseparable. I believe that this movie, if one leaves high expectations, machoism and bigotry at the door, can force you to rethink the path you have walked and the path that has yet to come. Give it a go - I doubt you'll regret it. :-)