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Contrary to what many people think, this is not a "gay cowboy" movie. It happens to be much more than that. It shows the trials and emotions of an impossible love situation, and the problems with having to keep it secret. The two lead actors, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, are superb. They seem so natural and convincing in their roles, and you come away almost believing these characters are real. Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway are superbly cast as their wives. I was a bit sceptical about watching the film in the first place, but soon put any reservations aside. It is unusual for me to get emotional when watching a film, but I was almost in tears in places. The scenery is stunning, and adds a certain amount of romance to the story. I feel the film wouldn't have worked as well if it had been set elsewhere. The climate and weather is skillfully included in the picture, and plays a vital role in the storyline. I believe this is one of Ang Lee's finest films. He handles the subject matter with great sensitivity. Annie Proulx should be congratulated for the origonal short story, and Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana have done an amazing job in writing it into the screenplay. Although I did infact find that the second part of the film dragged on somewhat, and some of the speech was difficult to hear, I think overall it is one the finest films to come out of America in recent timesRead full review
Did I like this movie? Yes! Did I think it was Oscar worthy? No! This movie is a total chick flick - not a bad thing, but also, nothing to be bragging about. My boyfriend hated it........not only because of the gay guy thing, but also because it was very slow, which I have to admit, it was. This is a love story, a heart-wrenching love story - there are hundreds of love stories out there and because this one was about 2 guys, it was considered "ground-breaking" according to many. Don't get me wrong, I liked this movie very much. The beauty of the movie, the directing and the performances by Ledger, Gyllenhaal and Williams were all incredible. I just don't think that it deserved all of the extra hype because of its gay story line. The beauty, the directing and the acting, all deserved every bit of hype they got, but the storyline itself did not. I would say this is a movie that would be enjoyed by any open-minded female out there as well as by many gay males! Ladies, don't be mean like I was and make your significant other watch this film with you - while he may appreciate the performances by the actors, he definitely will not appreciate the movie as a whole!Read full review
Let me start by saying that I liked this film. Still, I don't understand why the big controversy, there have been other gay movies with big name actors in them. Sure this one was more rugged and had a better script/location etc but the basic theme of love is love no matter the gender and impossible love has been done before. 2 men sign up for a Summer job taking care of sheep. While there they fall in love. After that summer they go back to their regular lives even getting married and raising families. They meet throughout the years but still do not make it a permanent thing - more like buddies going fishing. A little bit slow (I think that is how Lee meant it t be) but beautifully shot and acted, this is highly recommended. You know if this film is for you or not.
Ennis tells Jack about something he saw as a boy. "There were two old guys shacked up together. They were the joke of the town, even though they were pretty tough old birds." One day they were found beaten to death. Ennis says: "My dad, he made sure me and my brother saw it. For all I know, he did it." This childhood memory is always there, the ghost in the room, in Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain." When he was taught by his father to hate homosexuals, Ennis was taught to hate his own feelings. Years after he first makes love with Jack on a Wyoming mountainside, after his marriage has failed, after his world has compressed to a mobile home, the laundromat, the TV, he still feels the same pain: "Why don't you let me be? It's because of you, Jack, that I'm like this -- nothing, and nobody." But it's not because of Jack. It's because Ennis and Jack love each other and can find no way to deal with that. "Brokeback Mountain" has been described as "a gay cowboy movie," which is a cruel simplification. It is the story of a time and place where two men are forced to deny the only great passion either one will ever feel. Their tragedy is universal. It could be about two women, or lovers from different religious or ethnic groups -- any "forbidden" love. The movie wisely never steps back to look at the larger picture, or deliver the "message." It is specifically the story of these men, this love. It stays in closeup. That's how Jack and Ennis see it. "You know I ain't queer," Ennis tells Jack after their first night together. "Me, neither," says Jack. Their story begins in Wyoming in 1963, when Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) are about 19 years old and get a job tending sheep on a mountainside. Ennis is a boy of so few words he can barely open his mouth to release them; he learned to be guarded and fearful long before he knew what he feared. Jack, who has done some rodeo riding, is a little more outgoing. After some days have passed on the mountain and some whiskey has been drunk, they suddenly and almost violently have sex. "This is a one-shot thing we got going on here," Ennis says the next day. Jack agrees. But it's not. When the summer is over, they part laconically: “I guess I’ll see ya around, huh?”Their boss (Randy Quaid) tells Jack he doesn't want him back next summer: "You guys sure found a way to make the time pass up there. You weren't getting paid to let the dogs guard the sheep while you stemmed the rose." Some years pass. Both men get married. Then Jack goes to visit Ennis in Wyoming, and the undiminished urgency of their passion stuns them. Their lives settle down into a routine, punctuated less often than Jack would like by "fishing trips." Ennis' wife, who has seen them kissing, says nothing about it for a long time. But she notices there are never any fish. The movie is based on a short story by E. Annie Proulx. The screenplay is by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. This summer I read McMurtry's Lonesome Dove trilogy, and as I saw the movie I was reminded of Gus and Woodrow, the two cowboys who spend a lifetime together. They aren't gay; one of them is a womanizer and the other spends his whole life regretting the loss of the one woman he loved. They're straight, but just as crippled by a society that tells them how a man must behave and what he must feel. "Brokeback Mountain" could tell its story and not necessarily be a great movie. It could be a melodrama. It could be a "gay cowboy movie."Read full review
I WAS ACTUALLUY SURPRISED, I DID NOT THINK THAT THIS MOVIE WOULD BE A MOVIE THAT REALLY ENJOYED, I RENTED IT BECAUSE IT GOT SUCH GREAT REVIEWS, WELL AFTER SEEING IT I KNOW WHY, IT WAS A GREAT MOVIE, HEATH LEDGER DID A PHENOMINAL JOB! I THOUGHT THIS MOVIE WAS ACTUALLY SAD THAT TWO PEOPLE THAT LOVE ONE ANOTHER THAT MUCH HAD TO LIVE A LIE FOR 30 YEARS JUST BECAUSE OF REPUTATION! I COULD HAVE DID WITHOUT THE VERY FIRST SEX SCENE, IT WAS KIND OF RAW AND YOU COULD NOT FEEL THE LOVE BETWEEN THE TWO IN THAT SCENE, MY HUSBAND WATCHED IT AFTER ME AND HE SAID IT WAS A GOOD MOVIE ALL EXCEPT THAT FIRST SEX SCENE. HE SAID IT JUST SEEMED LIKE THEY WERE TWO HARD-UP VERY HORNY MEN IN THAT SCENE, AND I AGREE BUT OTHER THAN THAT WE BOTH ENJOYED THE MOVIE AND I BOUGHT IT FOR MY DVD COLLECTION! BUT YOUR HOMO-PHOBIAS OUT THERE WILL BE VERY OFFENDED BY THIS MOVIE, SO KEEP IT AWAY FROM THEM!!!Read full review
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