Brokeback Mountain

Ang Lee, USA, 2005, 134 minutes

In Brokeback Mountain, possibly the most genre subverting film of the year, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal star as two cowboys that get jobs for the summer working as ranch hands in the vast Wyoming mountains. An immense bond is formed between them and they become lovers. The men seem real; guilty, shy and awkward and are thankfully nowhere near the stereotype of gay men we so often encounter in Hollywood blockbusters. We see how the men change from their initial meeting over a 19 year period and how their need for each other is consistently strong.

Ang Lee took a big risk in casting actors that are probably best known, at least to me, for their 'not exactly intellectual’ teen roles - Heath Ledger from '10 things I hate about you’, Michelle Williams from 'Dawson’s Creek’, Anne Hathaway from 'The Princess Diaries’ and, though considerably more credibly, Jake Gyllenhaal from 'Donnie Darko’. However all four are outstanding. Ledger’s performance is an impressive heartbreaking mix of shame, aggression and longing and Gyllenhaal goes from beautiful and hopeful to aged and weary with BAFTA worthy ease and increased ugliness. Out of the two women, Michelle William’s performance as Ledger’s wife Alma is the more moving, though perhaps simply because she has a meatier role. She is defensive and vulnerable and richens the film by showing the men not to be the sole victims.

'Brokeback Mountain’ can be shocking, not because it shows the love of two men, but because it forces you to confront how harmful the ignorance of such a vast majority of people was and no doubt still is. This is an extremely brave film that shows a gritty realistic relationship between two men, sex and all, and is a definite must see.

Review by Katherine Sellar
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2006