AT HOME ON THE RANGE

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Directed by Ang Lee; written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, based on a short story by E. Annie Proulx; cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto; edited by Geraldine Peroni and Dylan Tichenor; music by Gustavo Santaolalla with additional music by Marcelo Zarvos; production design by Judy Becker; art direction by Laura Ballinger; costume design by Marit Allen
With: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid, Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris, Roberta Maxwell, Peter McRobbie, Graham Beckel, Scott Michael Campbell, David Harbour, and Kate Mara. Rated R for sexuality, nudity, language, and some violence. Running time: 134 minutes



Reviewed by Joel Johnson

Brokeback Mountain has been getting a lot of attention ever since it first hit festival screens in Venice, Telluride, and Toronto last fall. Since its release, it has been playing to packed houses. It has garnered a raft of critical accolades and accumulated multiple nominations for awards for director Ang Lee; screenwriters McMurtry and Ossana; cinematographer Prieto; composer Santaolalla; actors Ledger, Gyllenhaal, and Williams; and the entire cast. Critics have routinely had it on their top 10 lists and frequently had it near the top of these lists. Does the film deserve all the praise? In a word—yes, it definitely deserves the attention and honors that it has received. This is a film that takes its time to powerfully make its point. The film’s power starts with the beauty of its setting.

The film is set in Wyoming. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) find themselves hired by Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) and unceremoniously thrown together to herd and mind the sheep up in the mountains for the entire summer in 1963, with only each other for company. The Canadian Rockies of Alberta do the stand-in work for Wyoming, and the first part of the film features the glorious cinematography of Rodrigo Prieto. Prieto’s camerawork captures the lush forests, the mountain’s stark rock faces, the gurgling streams, and the abundant wildlife that is the rich natural bounty of the American West.

Over the course of several weeks, Ennis and Jack establish a working relationship, dividing the tasks they have to do. Even more slowly, they get to know each other. A freezing night during late summer in the mountains provides the impetus for them to spend a night huddled together. Abruptly, the relationship moves from work partners who have to live together to being sexual partners. In one of the film’s rare missteps, the pair progresses far too quickly in this scene from novice homosexuals to knowing precisely how to consummate their desire. They then spend their few remaining nights on the mountain together, with dire consequences for some of the sheep they are supposed to protect from predators.

The meat of the film is what happens to them when they come down from the mountain at the end of the summer. They part without fanfare but are profoundly affected by their experiences together. Ennis marries his fiancée Alma (Michelle Williams), while Jack heads off to follow in his father’s footsteps as a rodeo competitor. Jack struggles on the circuit, but his one successful bull riding effort catches the eye of the spoiled Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway), who not so demurely indicates her avid interest in him. She turns out to be the daughter of wealthy Texas farm equipment dealer L. D. Newsome (Graham Beckel), who has a ten-gallon ego. Jack becomes a successful and prosperous salesman in his father-in-law’s business. Ennis quickly finds himself struggling as the father of young daughters Alma Jr. and Jenny, as he and his wife daily negotiate work and childcare responsibilities between Alma’s store clerk job and his as a ranch hand. It is during this time that Prieto produces one of the film’s most iconic images after Ennis fights two gutter-mouthed ruffians to secure a decent environment for his wife and daughters at a Fourth of July fireworks display. Eventually, Ennis and Jack reunite for “fishing trips” that catch no fish. Despite Jack’s comfortable prosperity as the husband of the boss’s daughter, he envisions a life ranching together with Ennis. Ennis resists this, referring to an object lesson given by his father, making him a witness to the brutality meted out to two men who had lived together in an apparent homosexual relationship.

I have probably revealed a little more of the events that happen in this film than I usually do in my reviews, but the magic of this film is that this is not really where the action is in the story. There is outstanding acting turned in by the entire cast, and they have been deservedly nominated for recognition (by the Screen Actors Guild) as a cast. Obviously, the two leads deliver fine performances. Heath Ledger, who has been a leading man on the edge of major stardom for the last several years, finds a role that has brought him the most accolades of his young career. He has combined a taciturn personality worthy of Gary Cooper with Marlon Brando’s marble-mouthed delivery in The Godfather to produce the most memorable character of his career and is a front-runner for Oscar recognition. Gyllenhaal has been touted as a Supporting Actor and is also a strong candidate for Oscar recognition in his third of three 2005 prestige productions. (Proof and Jarhead are the other two). However, the most affecting performance is Michelle Williams as the young wife Alma trying to raise her children and cope with her aloof husband’s secret life. Though her role is virtually devoid of glamour, she is clearly worthy of a Supporting Actress nomination. With even less screen time, Roberta Maxwell is heartbreaking as Jack’s mother, whom we meet just shy of the film’s end. What makes these roles so compelling is how well the actors make us understand the emotions churning inside these characters. While the dialogue is not inconsequential, so much is told in the silences by facial expressions and body language. What is remarkable is that even though the film is a longer than average movie and relies on silences to deliver its message, I did not want the film to end. I wanted to know more about the lives of all the characters. This is quite an achievement.

Ang Lee has been one of my favorite directors over the last twelve or so years, dating back to his Chinese language films The Wedding Banquet (1993) and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994). He has successfully taken on the challenge of Jane Austen (Sense and Sensibility), the Watergate-era 1970s (The Ice Storm), the American Civil War (Ride with the Devil), and Chinese martial arts films (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). His thoughtful cinematic storytelling hit the mark less successfully in his adaptation of the comic book hero Hulk. Brokeback Mountain is an excellent film and likely the film that will garner him the Oscar recognition that he deserves.

Many have referred to Brokeback Mountain as the “gay cowboy” movie. Sometimes, this description has a pejorative edge to it, and some have vehemently insisted that they would avoid seeing the movie as if doing so would induce the plague. Should people be concerned? Does it glorify a gay lifestyle? Pulitzer Prize–winning author E. Annie Proulx, finding it too simplistic, has rejected the “gay cowboy” label for the film made from her short story. It may conjure up an image of a stereotypical effeminacy dressed in cowboy-style duds bedecked with fringe and rhinestones that would be the envy of Liberace. She, instead, describes her main characters, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, as being naive young men who don’t fully understand their own sexuality when the story opens. It is clear that they have grown up with conventional beliefs about masculinity and have relatively little sexual experience. Neither of the young men considers himself to be “queer.” It is easy to see how sharing the summer of 1963 tending sheep (not cattle) on Brokeback Mountain has provided each his first opportunity to fall in love and to question his assumed heterosexuality. Neither Ennis nor Jack finds a definitive answer to this question. Both get married and father children, yet neither finds that as fulfilling as the relationship they have with each other. The film’s power is that it allows the audience to witness the angst of the characters, who realize that the assumption of their own heterosexuality is incorrect and then try to live happily in a world that is frequently very hostile to those who do not conform to that assumption. It also shows how this part of their lives that they hide and wrestle with has tragic consequences for those who care about them. The references to “gay cowboy” may be simplistic, but there is an irony to the juxtaposition of those two words since there is no more mythic, masculine American symbol than the cowboy. To envision the Marlboro Man as anything other than heterosexual challenges basic assumptions. It is unexpected, and yet does anyone grow up expecting to be gay? This should make us think, and, in the hands of Brokeback Mountain’s cast and crew, that’s what it makes us do. It makes us think about love, the demands of love, the responsibilities of love, and it makes us think about sexuality—especially, about the nature of sexual orientation. These may be issues that challenge the orthodoxy of certain people, but this by no means glorifies being gay.  

 

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