Brokeback Mountain

This past winter break I was at a reunion and speaking with my friend Josiah. I would argue we are about equal in terms of taste and so in the midst of discussion Josiah mentioned that outside of Magnolia he thought Brokeback Mountain was the best movie of the past 10 years. This of course got me to thinking. So I finally came to terms with it and decided to watch Brokeback Mountain, which brings me to this evening's first viewing of it. For those of you uninformed readers Brokeback Mountain is a movie about two herders who spend a summer in the mountains herding sheep, their time alone together leads them to take their friendship to the next level. As the summer ends they part and return back to their "straight" lives. The story then follows them through the next 20 years of their lives as they marry women and try to find happiness but continue, instead, to find each other. It is a sad movie about longing and love, though you're never sure what love looks like or who its between in this movie. Personally, I didn't see the hype. Is it a good movie? Yes. Is it well made and acted? Very much so. Yet I don't believe it to be the modern classic critics were so quick to adorn it with. The showcase here, the top of this movie's pyramid, is the performances. Heath Ledger as Ennis, our lead man, is a powerhouse without hardly ever talking above a mumble. Had he delivered this in any other year without Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing Capote he surely would have won. Jake Gyllenhal as Jack, Ennis' lover, is at the top of his game and the same for Michelle Williams who has some heavy scenes. I would like to point out however the brilliant, quiet and small role of Anne Hathaway as Jack's wife Lureen. Hathaway delivers a performance that is so keen and subtle and perfect that you believe her and you know there will be no teary eyed screams from her, she is a woman of dignity and pride from her teeth to her toenails, and her last scene is masterful. It is a crime how unnoticed she went. I think my greatest issue with the story is that it has been heralded by my peers, acquaintances, and critics as a sweeping romance, an enduring love story. Yet I am not sure if anyone ever loved anyone in the movie, I don't believe Ennis loved Jack as much as he needed him and vice versa, they were caught in a world they couldn't make sense of and hurt all of those who dared step in to the ring. Perhaps the only person I believed to have loved anyone was Cassie, Ennis' second girl, her exit scene is one of great grit and power and one of love, while it is easy to confuse passion with love, it is also easy to confuse need or desire with love. It is a good movie, but in terms of romances I'll take Moulin Rouge another movie about starcrossed lovers, or if you want to discuss gay themes I will take Milk.