Guys • Jake
Gyllenhaal, left, and Heath Ledger play
lovers Jack and Ennis in “Brokeback
Mountain.” MPRM
‘Brokeback Mountain’ tackles homosexuality and true love
By Lesley Nickus
Online Forty-Niner
Diversions Editor
Homosexuality is one of the more highly debated subjects in today’s society.
In “Brokeback Mountain,” Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Anne Hathaway
and Michelle Williams tackle the subject with maturity and skill.
Based on the short story by E. Annie Prolux, the film follows Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal)
and Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) as they develop a relationship forced to remain secret.
The story is set in a small Wyoming town in 1963. Jack is a rodeo cowboy and
Ennis is a ranch hand. Both need jobs and meet at the trailer of Joe Aguirre
(Randy Quaid). They get jobs herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain. While on the
mountain, the men develop an unbreakable bond that follows them throughout their
lives.
Both actors played their characters nearly flawlessly. Jack is the more dominant
of the two and Gyllenhaal portrays this quite accurately, using aggressive mannerisms
and passionate speech.
Ledger plays a reluctant character. Ennis seems uncomfortable with participating
in a romantic relationship with Jack.
When they actually become physically involved, Ennis reminds Jack it is a one-time
thing—which it clearly is not.
Both characters end up getting married, Jack to his fiance, Alma (Williams),
and Ennis to a woman he meets at the rodeo named Laureen (Hathaway). Each has
a basic heterosexual marriage, complete with children and domestic arguments.
But neither man can forget the bond they had on the mountain, so they decide
to meet and go camping on the mountain.
In the beginning, they see each other every few years, but their love develops
and becomes stronger. The frequency of their camping trips eventually causes
their wives to become suspicious.
Alma is the only wife who knows about the affair. Williams portrays her as a
woman deeply in love with her husband, but also deeply hurt by his betrayal.
You see her struggle with that knowledge and her decision of whether or not to
let
Ennis know she is aware of what goes on during their trips. This is arguably
one of Williams’ most accomplished, mature performances—certainly
many levels above her “Dawson’s Creek” days.
Laureen is a break for Hathaway, recognized mostly by her role as the lead character
in “The Princess Diaries” movies. Rather than playing a young, innocent
princess, Laureen gave Hathaway the opportunity to flex her acting muscles as
a self-serving, business minded woman who is stronger than most of the men surrounding
her. You begin to think she is free from emotion until the end, where she speaks
to Ennis for the first time. It is here you realize she had feelings for Jack
that transcended the levels of what appeared to be a marriage of convenience.
While critics have been quick to label this as the “gay cowboy movie,” the
storyline is actually much deeper than that.
The movie deals with a subject that has nothing to do with sexual orientation.
It proves people have the ability to love another, regardless of who they are
or what they believe.
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