“Brokeback Mountain” Directed by Ang Lee
Focus Features Gay cowboys. Yes, that is the premise of
“Brokeback Mountain,” Ang Lee’s new film about
the solitude and anguish felt by victims of desperate isolation in
a suddenly changing world. And yes, the gay cowboys are played by
Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, two young actors who are
obviously attempting to break out of the confinement of heartthrob
status. To make matters even more sensational, the film largely
takes place in the cascading mountainside of Wyoming in the 1960s.
Nevertheless, the film succeeds in having surprising levels of
emotional depth. “Brokeback Mountain” slowly unfolds as
Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) fatefully meet
up while herding sheep in modest and culturally reserved Wyoming.
The men become friends, trusting each other in the middle of harsh
physical conditions that test their mental fortitude and their
physical strength. Twist and Del Mar unexpectedly find in each
other a kindred lost soul. The personal affirmation leads both men
down an introspective path ““ they are drawn to each other and
must now question their own sexual identities. As the young men
form conventional families of their own, they grow into middle age
and are forced to deal with the stifling homophobia that pervades
their lives. The sustaining photography of the Wyoming vistas and
the drawn-out scenes expressing the slow torment of isolation allow
the film to be interpreted as a serious piece of work. But the
ultimate success of the film falls on the two actors, and the
underlying strength of the film is Ledger’s turn as the
soft-spoken and emotionally scarred Ennis. However, there is an
underlying tone of condescension directed at “red
state” America in this adaptation of the E. Annie Proulx
short story featured in The New Yorker in 1997. The highbrow
cultures of Hollywood and Manhattan occasionally rear their ugly
heads, almost chastising middle America’s intolerance toward
homosexuals. Regardless, “Brokeback Mountain” succeeds
as a modest story about two tragic characters trapped by their own
fear of being socially ostracized.
““ Adam de Jong