At the beginning of Brokeback Mountain, two 19-year-olds, a ranchhand named Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) and a rodeo rider named Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), hire on to tend a herd of sheep in Wyoming for the summer. Off alone in the rugged, mountainous terrain they start having sex with each other and, though they don't realize it, fall in love. It's 1963 and these boys from the middle of nowhere have no way to assimilate what they feel for each other. When they separate at the end of the job Ennis is so overcome he collapses in an alley with the dry heaves. No wonder: when he was a child there were two men living on a nearby ranch together; one of them was beaten to death with a tire iron and sexually mutilated. Ennis's father, who may have taken part in the crime, took his son to see the corpse as a warning that has spooked him ever since. In '63 Ennis and Jack aren't even at a point at which they can contemplate doing something about their feelings and consciously reject that option—they both marry and have kids because it's the only imaginable course. Four years later, however, Jack passes through Ennis's teensy town and they reconnect; from then on they start taking "fishing trips" several times a year to be together.
This already-famous movie, directed by Ang Lee, and written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, originated as a short story by E. Annie Proulx that appeared in The New Yorker in 1997. (Click here for Proulx's biography.) Proulx moved to Wyoming in 1994 and I would guess the story sprouted from her looking around and thinking something like, "There must always have been guys out here getting it on with each other.…" With remarkable discipline, reflecting her graduate training as a historian of the French Annales school, Proulx works through the thought, imagining what such young men must have thought, felt, done, and said in such a situation. In this 1999 Missouri Review interview, Proulx describes the Annales school as having "pioneered minute examination of the lives of ordinary people through account books, wills, marriage and death records, farming and crafts techniques, the development of technologies." (The classic work of Annales history-writing is Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou (1975).) Proulx goes on to explain how she conducts research for her fiction:
I read manuals of work and repair, books of manners, dictionaries of slang, city directories, lists of occupational titles, geology, regional weather, botanists' plant guides, local histories, newspapers. I visit graveyards, collapsing cotton gins, photograph barns and houses, roadways. I listen to ordinary people speaking with one another in bars and stores, in laundromats. I read bulletin boards, scraps of paper I pick up from the ground.In Brokeback Mountain there's a certain amount of masculinely terse, "poetic" description of nature, but otherwise Proulx voices Ennis and Jack's story entirely in their idiom—the dialogue is a truly impressive feat of literary ventriloquism. Proulx has a solid sense of her achievement; as she says in this 15 December 2005 AP interview, "I had to imagine my way into the minds of two uneducated, rough-spoken, uninformed young men, and that takes some doing if you happen to be an elderly female person." In this 7 December 2005 interview with Planet Jackson Hole Proulx notes that Brokeback Mountain was "the result of years of subliminal observation and thought, eventually brought to the point of writing," but as her comments above make clear, she has techniques to better assure the plausibility of what she produces. Her story is a thoroughly unfussed piece of writing; naturalism doesn't get much more natural.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Silas Kain
Interesting take on what I see is THE film for 2005. I saw it again yesterday and continue to love the story of Ennis and Jack. I'm with Lee. It's not a gay cowboy movie. It is a love story in the most primal sense. Ledger deserves the Best Actor Oscar hands down while Gyllenhaal has earned the supporting actor nod.
2 - Alan Dale
Thanks for the comment. I know a lot of people have been really moved by it; I'd like to talk to them in 20 years and see if they still think it's a great movie. Sometimes the impact of a movie has more to do with the culture at the time of its release than with its artistic merit. Who knows--maybe I'll like it more. But I avoid thinking of the quality of movies in terms of the Academy Awards. Get a book about the Oscars and watch the movies of the nominated performers. Even if there are people out there who think that Luise Rainer was great in The Great Ziegfeld, or Bing Crosby in Going My Way, or Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter, or Shirley Jones in Elmer Gantry, or Shelley Winters in A Patch of Blue, or George Burns in The Sunshine Boys (and these are all winners; some of the nominees defy belief), in the long run the list doesn't correlate with anybody's idea of great acting.
3 - Jennifer Adam
"If Ledger had been allowed to play Ennis as a man responsible for his evasiveness and rage, for the brutality that comes from not thinking about your feelings and enforcing that clamp-down on the people around you--while still sneaking off to get what you want but can't admit to--the movie's vision would be much more penetrating than mere sympathy permits, and comparisons to Marlon Brando might have been justified."
I don't agree with much of your take on this movie. Especially concerning the quote above: I think you are looking for a behavior out of Ennis that just would not fit his background nor the information given in the movie. You seem to want him to have processed a lot of what was going on in sort of a completely mature, adult manner with a rather intellectual spin. But the movie makes it clear that in a lot of ways Ennis is like a kid emotionally - he has never had the background of support and love from his family which would have helped him be more in touch with himself, plus, it makes it clear that he is a very inward person, uneducated, not very talkative, and so someone not as likely to offer forth deep personal observations and critiques of himself. Instead, we see that it is not until the very end that Ennis seems to have really turned a corner in terms of his empathy for Jack, his understanding, his maturity (for the first time he does not react with anger and violence when Jack's father mentions Randall). It is this new level of Ennis' personality at the end which saves the film from just being a "Backstreet" kind of show.
4 - Alan Dale
Thanks for your comment. I think my comparisons of the story and the movie, however, make it clear I don't want Ennis to be different from what he is. What I want is less of the sympathy that you seem to respond to--"he has never had the background of support and love from his family which would have helped him be more in touch with himself"--and more of Proulx's objectivity. Yes, he's like a kid emotionally, but he's not a kid, he's an adult and adults are responsible for their behavior whatever the cause. Proulx doesn't go soft on this, the movie does. If you've ever been around childish adult men who react violently to emotional troubles, you might agree that in such real-life situations sympathy hops right in the back seat behind other responses. I don't want Ennis to be different, I want the moviemakers to present him differently.
5 - Steve S
I haven't seen the movie, I live in a small town and it's not playing here yet. Besides, we don't go to movies anyway, we just wait for DVD. Movies are overpriced, people are rude and the seats are worse than airplane seats.
All that aside, I grew up in Oklahoma in the 70's and 80's and met my partner there. We are transplanted cowboys. Like I said, I haven't seen the movie, but I read Annie's story and I can completely relate. Most all the gay people I grew up with, married and had children with women. They just ended up cheating on their wives, society didn't give us the option to be true to ourselves. That option led to violence. I'm actually afraid I'll lose it when I see the movie, I know a few guys who met violent ends because their secret was discovered and I've been on the wrong end of a baseball bat myself, although a long time ago.
We've come a long way since then and I'm glad that our story is finally being told.
6 - Bennett
Steve, man, how are you? Long time.
How's your daughter? Well we hope.
I'm 8 weeks from seeing the birth of my son, so I'm starting to be gaggingly aware of other people's kids...
Ah fuck, shoot me already...
7 - Steve S
Hi Bennett, we're doing great. Congrats and be ready to have your world turned upside down in all the best ways possible. Even what you thought would be the bad moments are just great when they are yours to deal with. You'll know what I mean.
8 - Jennifer Adam
"Yes, he's like a kid emotionally, but he's not a kid, he's an adult and adults are responsible for their behavior whatever the cause. Proulx doesn't go soft on this, the movie does."
That quote right there just cracks me up, because it seems like you are trying to impart some sort of morality while watching a movie about someone like Ennis. Face it, most films are interesting or memorable because they are about someone who is flawed in some way, who does not go about things in a completely mature, non-emotional, level-headed way. Sometimes a film is devoted to seeing that person make a journey of sorts (such as Ennis does) from what they once were to something better) but sometimes it is about how they never do make that change.
I also don't think that the audience was completely sentimental towards Ennis and his behavior. The audience sees Ennis as a flawed person, especially in those first years in his marriage, but you also feel renewed kinship with him after he gets divorced, for instance, when he does try to put his best face on and show up at Thanksgiving and be friendly and gracious in the name of family harmony. Most of us have been there or new people who were unhappy at one point but get to a have a series of second chances to be more comfortable in their skin and make amends. The reason that despite some of his outbursts and his infidelity, the audience still feels empathetic with Ennis is because Ang does a wonderful job of showing the audience just how life-changing that summer on the mountain was for Ennis, in a way that he almost cannot describe but we see by his actions and reactions to Jack up on Brokeback, that we can understand Ennis' motivations and quandaries once he is thrust back into the "normal" world that he grew up in. I don't see that as being touchy-feely, but empathetic in a very real sense.
We also see Ennis grow in maturity by the end of the film in his relationship with his daughter, and finally, in his admission and comprehension of his love for Jack after Jack's death. So Ennis does make an emotional journey, but I completely disagree that the movie glamorizes or soft-pedals it for the audience.
9 - David M. Brown
70s and 80s? No, it's not that society didn't "give them the option" whether to be true to themselves. I believe that people had a real choice whether to marry even in the 40s and 50s, when being gay must have been much tougher. I don't think social difficulties "determine" what an individual must do. In any society, people have a choice of conforming to whatever the dominant norms and practices or following their own path.
10 - Alan Dale
"Ang does a wonderful job of showing the audience just how life-changing that summer on the mountain was for Ennis, in a way that he almost cannot describe but we see by his actions and reactions to Jack up on Brokeback"
Are you thinking of when Ennis fucks Jack using only a little spit for lube, or when he gives him a black eye, or when he has the dry heaves after they separate? Indeed I think you sentimentalize the story: "make a journey," "feel renewed kinship with him," "grow in maturity," "emotional journey."
I'm not trying to impart morality; I brought it up only b/c the moviemakers raise the issue and ignore it where Proulx, with her non-judgmentalism, had not brought it up at all. I simply prefer Proulx's approach: it's bracing, truth-telling.
11 - Steve S
In any society, people have a choice of conforming to whatever the dominant norms and practices or following their own path.
While that sounds good at face value, it doesn't play out that way in the real world, not back then. Granted, the 70's and 80's were better than the 40's and 50's, but you were not free to follow your own path. If you did, and if your path wasn't accepted by society, your home was burned, you were assaulted, you were often targeted for murder, you were branded a criminal because of sodomy laws and so by default you lost any court case you were involved in, whether it had to do with family, property or business. I know this for a fact because I lived through it.
I had no less than 6 friends while I was growing up commit suicide because the societal condemnation was too much for them. I knew of dozens of gay people who suffered depression and/or became alcoholics and consequently had their lives destroyed all because of religious oppression. I wish the world were as peachy as you portray it, but that was simply not the case.
12 - Steve S
It's interesting to note which parts of the movie straight guys focus on. I think the meaning is ultimately still lost on many.
13 - Alan Dale
Hey Steve,
Thanks for your interesting comments. Annie Proulx has reported getting a number of letters like yours. And I, too, am glad that she told this story; she's the one who deserves the credit.
As for the question of personal responsibility for lying and cheating: my point is that while it's undeniable that it was, and in many places still is, socially unacceptable, and even dangerous, to be openly homosexual, gay men nonetheless have to live with the consequences of the secretive and dishonest behavior they engage in as a result. That may sound unfair, but I'm not judging, I'm simply stating what has been my experience and what I've witnessed. Just b/c the world won't let you be openly gay doesn't mean that dishonesty doesn't have the same effect on your character that it has on straight people's characters when they lie to and cheat on their partners.
14 - Alan Dale
Oh, and who are you calling "straight"? I actually don't understand what you're referring to with that last comment.
15 - Jennifer Adam
See, I think that Annie Proulx is the one who took a little easier way out in certain ways. In the book, Alma is portrayed as not really being that broken up when she leaves Ennis for the grocer, but then later, she seems to have all this pent up rage. Sort of a shift in her personality. Also, in the book, Ennis is much more talkative, especially about his infatuation with Jack, yet he then goes on to be a big drag on their relationship, again a shift in his character which does not completely ring true. I think the film actually put together a much more realistic portrait of Ennis and just why he could not move forward.
And no I am not being overly sentimental. You list off a few rougher events that happen on the mountain, but you conveniently ignore the obvious flowering of Ennis' personality seen for instance in the second tent scene, in the horsing around scene where Aguirre sees them, in their chats and jokes prior to getting together, etc. The thing is, Ennis does not talk a lot, but surprisingly Ang is able to convey it in other ways. You just seem to want Ennis to be as talky as you are (hee hee)...
16 - Steve S
Alan, I agree with you about personal responsibility. When I was closeted, it was for fear of my life, my career and my mental health.
When I came out of the closet, I lost more than a few friends because of the 'dishonesty'. That is my karma and what I deserved, although no one but another gay person could possibly related to the need for a closet. It is a catch-22 in my opinion.
Even so, those friends I did lose to the dishonesty, I would have lost anyway if I was honest from the beginning, because while I was closeted around these people, they certainly didn't hide their hate towards my community (and therefore create a need for the closet).
That is the way it works.
17 - Aaman
Evidently there are no closets on the mountain
18 - reggie von woic
LOL! Aaman.
I was moved by the story, i however don't go bragging about it to my friends (for obvious reasons).
Exactly why i was moved isn't clear....
I'm definitely going for the dvd when its out.
19 - Alan Dale
Hey Aaman,
That is an interesting idea--on the one hand the sentimental notion that the guys can really be who they are out in nature, and on the other the fact that their boss sees them fooling around through a pair of binoculars so even nature is somehow socially structured. Don't think the movie makes too much of it, though.
Congratulations on Desicritics.org, too!
20 - Aaman
Thanks Alan - this is probably one reason why the Westerns were so homoerotic in many instances.
Incidentally, we would be honored if you'd like to write posts, possibly on international film, for desicritics.
We launch with interviews with at least two actors, one of whom is a noted art house-style actor named K K Menon
21 - mt
In my opinion, the battle for this year's Best Actor Oscar is between Ledger and Phillip Seymour Hoffman for his performance in CAPOTE.
22 - Alan Dale
I don't think anyone will argue with you, but see Comment #2 above on the question of whether the Oscars meaningfully gauge quality.
23 - Alan Hoang
Yours is probably the most informed criticism of BM I've read.
I personally thought the film started out naturalistically then slid off to melodrama hogwash (that it couldn't even sustain given the original source's austerity). I left the movie feeling dissatisfied and at odd at what I was seeing. Your dissection illuminated and gave reason to my feeling very well. A great thorough job.
As for issues on personal responsibility... if I may illuminate your point. While it's a dead-end for Ennis and Jack (and many people like themselves) with regards to their desire - circumstances dictated their inevitable dishonesty, what makes them less connectable to a film viewer is their non-dealing with their dishonesty. Perhaps if we see them *feel* bad about their cheating/lying, and try to make it up in other ways, and even if they fail at that, we might *connect* with them more, as opposed to resorting to pitying them.
As presented, both generally treat their domestic life hostilely and their wives come off as nuisance.
24 - Alan Dale
Thanks, Alan, for the comment. I think the scriptwriters added Ennis's post-Alma girlfriend to emphasize the detrimental effects of his dishonesty. But the scene in the diner where she stands there crying and he says nothing was arguably the worst addition to the story. It just widened the vale of tears they were all caught in, as if feeling sorry for people were the most complex experience art can offer.
25 - Alan Hoang
Right, Alan! Maybe it's just me, but I cringe whenever a movie's aim is to make me feel sorry for the characters. Being opposite is also cringing, like being condemning, which Ang Lee was in "The Ice Storm". It's condescending art. The artist doesn't attempt to dig deep and connect, but stay an outsider and judge, either sentimentally or critically.
Annie Proulx said that a story (presented in a way like in her writing) is not complete until the reader finished reading it (and have his/her take on it). I think Ang Lee et al. completes the story their way, which is an attitude of pity and sentimentalism. He should either stay terse like Proulx and let the audience complete the story, but since this is a Hollywood movie, they have to do the work for the audience. Even so, wish they would complete it from much more interesting angle.