Review of Brokeback Mountain (2005) by Conor R — 09 Aug 2013

The talented director, Ang Lee has crafted a beautiful, epic Western with two powerhouse performances from Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. "Brokeback Mountain" focuses on the two protagonists, Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Ledger), who bond extremely closely on the title location, while on a job.

Their relationship soon turns quickly into a physical one, which could cause problems for them if anybody found out about it. Eventually, the two men are separated when the job ends, and they are forced to go their separate ways.

Ennis gets married to Alma (Michelle Williams) and has two daughters; while Jack gets married to Lureen (Anne Hathaway) and has a son. Four years later the two men have a reunion, and they are affected profoundly by this as their feelings for each other lead them to consider what continuing their hidden relationship would cost them.

This dilemma makes way for lots of dramatic tension and tragedy. "Brokeback Mountain" was very well directed and written. The performances, on the other hand, were outstanding. I'm not surprised why both Gyllenhaal and Ledger received Academy Award nominations, and Ang Lee was awarded the Best Director Academy Award because they well and truly deserved them.

The only problem I could find with the film was that some parts of the story moved way too quickly: one scene Jack and Ennis are leaving their job on Brokeback Mountain... then in the next scene Ennis is all of a sudden getting married in a church.

I personally felt disappointed by this as a viewer because I would have liked it if the movie had shown us how Ennis met Alma, for example. Despite this, I enjoyed everything else "Brokeback Mountain" had to offer.

It's definitely worth your time.