Let me just say this is one hell of an excellent film. This is exceptional in every sense of the word, a movie that should become a bonafide classic in short order. What we have are two cowboys, Ennis and Jack (Heath and Jake, respectively). Both are, from all early indications, straight. One night while on a sheep drive, they are freezing while asleep. They find themselves asleep together and, soon enough, they're making out.
Well, let me rephrase that: Ennis is fucking the shit out of Jack in a scene that was nearly too hard to watch. The way the two went from kissing to Ennis flipping Jack onto his belly--hard!--and pounding him for all he was worth caused me to flinch. It's raw power and it sets the scene for the rest of the film. This scene is repeated almost exactly when Ennis has anal sex with his wife. That one is excrutiating to watch because you know she's not having any enjoyment; this is probably her first inkling something is different with Ennis.
Long story short, both men marry and have kids. However, they still meet up once in a while for week-long affairs. Jack wants Ennis to leave his wife Alma (Michelle Williams) and live on a ranch with him. Ennis says no because, as a young boy, he saw a (presumably) gay man dead after being drug around by his dick courtesy of a horse. And, besides, no way is Ennis gay. But he continues, year after year, to cheat on his wife with Jack. Jack, for his part, knows what he wants and goes to lengths to get it. He goes to Mexico for sex and, we are led to believe, gets to make out with a married friend of his. Remember that.
Jack wants something else, a life outside of Brokeback Mountain. After years of lying, Alma leaves Ennis. Then, Jack finally confronts his friend with the famous "I don't know how to quit you" line from the trailers. That scene, their final one on the mountain, is unnerving and, ultimately, the most powerful. Jack doesn't want to be kept on a leash, Ennis' little secret. He wants more than just the mountain. It's a tour de force performance for Jake Gyllenhall who, under the inredible aging makeup, has the rage pent up inside him for years. Why can't Ennis let down his guard enough to Jack to love him? Why won't they try to make a life together?
They part ways, neither one happy with the other and both distraught. We know Ennis loves Jack because, when they came down the mountain the first time and parted company, Ennis broke down and cried on the side of the road. Ennis only comes to life with Jack's around; he has that schoolboy hop to him. Then, something happens. A postcard Ennis sent to Jack comes back with a stamp on it: DECEASED. Ennis calls Jack's wife who dispassionately tells him Jack died when a tire explosed and the rim hit his head.
Instantly, Ennis pictures Jack being beaten and killed on the side of the road, not unlike Matthew Shepard a couple years ago. The recounting of what happened to Jack occurs in such a clinical, anesptic way that everyone knows the wife is lying. It's the cover story for what really happened. This sends Ennis into a tailspin. He visits Jack's parents, an old couple on a dilapitated ranch. They tell him Jack always mentioned a Brokeback friend of his who would help him repair the ranch. Then they said he found a new friend, presumably the married man from before, who was coming up. Ultimately, they never did.
Brokeback Mountain is about the worst emotion in the world: loneliness. The loneliness that happens when you know where you want to be, you've been there but you can't have it. The loneliness of knowing no matter what, you can't have what you want because someone continues to deny you and themselves. The lonliness of knowing if we did one thing differently, the world would have proverbially changed. That is what Ennis has to wrestle with for the rest of his life: he let the love of his life walk away because he was scared. That's as simple as I can make it. Loneliness is personified by everything in the film, from the stark nature of Jack's parent's house to the longing look in each man's eyes for the other (and the wife's eyes for their husbands).
BM is filmed expertly by Ang Lee in that he doesn't call attention to camera moves. And the few "skin" scenes there are (boys, don't start drooling...the movie is shot very tastefully) are done in such a way that the viewer never gets to see anything. While part of me wanted a full on frontal nudity scene or eight ( :) ), that would have detracted from the story.
This is a powerful movie with no real weak links. Everything came together for this film to become a standout of the year. Let's just hope Oscar doesn't forget about it.