Impressions of Brokeback Mountain

I was privileged to be able to attend a special screening of Brokeback Mountain last night in Denver.  It was the closing night film for the 28th Denver International Film Festival.  Ang Lee, Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana were in attendance and Ang Lee was awarded the DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award.

Before I discuss the movie I need to discuss my feelings about the short story.  When I read the story back in 2002, by which time it was a part of the collection Close Range, it left an indelible mark on me.  I come from a family of Texas cattle ranchers and spent my formative years in Texas and in rural southwest Colorado.  As a westerner but more particularly as a person with my family and childhood history, the story struck a deep resonant chord within me.  Brokeback Mountain really changed me.  It put me back in touch with things that I thought I would be separated from forever.  I have come to relate to this story as if it were true and its characters real.  I feel as if Ennis and Jack are people I know.

This led to my overwhelming concern about the film adaptation.  Namely that it give full respect to Jack and Ennis and that it give honor to their love.

Now it must be understood that concerning most things where people are involved, I am a cynical person by nature.  Given the soulless pabulum that has been the chief export of Hollywood for too many years now, I was truly frightened when I heard that Brokeback would be put to film.  I was preparing for the worst and to be very angry.

Then came the reviews from Venice and Toronto.  I was reluctant to believe it at first but then came to accept that Ang Lee had been careful with the story and exactingly faithful to the text.  Let it suffice to say that my relief was almost boundless.  I wept when I read those first reviews.  I also felt somewhat chastened.  I felt I should have had more faith (something which doesn’t come to me naturally) in the director of “The Ice Storm” and in Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.

So about the film.

Please, read the story. But expect to come away from the film with different impressions and understandings.  Be prepared to think differently about Jack and Ennis.  Be prepared to understand them more fully. 

Like Annie Proulx’s writing, the film was by equal turns rapturous and devastating.  Both exquisitely beautiful and gut-punched painful.  Do not go to this movie thinking that Ang Lee has thoughtfully sprinkled in some magic movie dust that will leave you feeling good.  You will walk out feeling emotionally drained and conflicted.  The conflicted feeling will last for days.  My explicit advice is that the film be seen in an environment that will promote a feeling of intimacy.  See it with someone you love.  You will willingly bear your heart.  You will feel vulnerable.  Try to find a time and place where you are not left feeling too cold.  Because that need not be the feeling you are left with.

Heath Ledger fully becomes Ennis del Mar.  He is wracked by pain, frustration, fear and guilt that never completely leave him.  Jake Gyllenhaal fully becomes Jack Twist.  He has a kind of hopeful joy you feel you can drink in great healing gulps.  But Ennis cannot be completely healed, he can only be temporarily relieved and the anguish that this causes in Jack is fully realized through Jake.  Ennis’ and Jack’s love is made fully evident by Heath and Jake in actions and expressions both great and small.

The music of Gustavo Santaolalla is pitch perfect and the screenplay of Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana was flawless.

I don’t feel the need to elaborate on the performances of Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway or the cinematography of Rodrigo Prieto.  They were each exceptional and have been praised elsewhere.  They were not the focus of my concern although if they had not been so exceptional the film would have been crippled.

I am honestly grateful to Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ang Lee for so lovingly giving Ennis and Jack and their story to us and I will write them to say so.

You will be changed by this film.

Comments

[Jamie]

Bravo, John.