Despite superficial appearances, Brokeback Mountain is actually a conventional, yet tragic, love story.
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One of last year's most acclaimed films gets a second treatment with an all-new 2-disc release.
An early episode of "South Park" featured a spoof of the Sundance Film Festival with the characters joking about how every independent film was about gay cowboys eating pudding. Except for the pudding, the gag was oddly prescient with the release of "Brokeback Mountain" several years later. While no one on the show wanted to see a movie about gay cowboys, "Brokeback" became a huge success far beyond the art-house circuit. Not just a darling with the critics, the film picked up over $170 million dollars worldwide and became a pop culture phenomenon. The movie was parodied on talk shows, comedy sketches, and internet viral videos. Meanwhile, one of the film's most memorable lines, "I wish I could quit you.", entered into the modern lexicon and has been referenced countless times.
Heath Ledger and Jack Gyllenhaal play young cowboys, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, respectively. Both find themselves in Wyoming looking for work and are hired by a gruff rancher named Aguirre (Randy Quaid). Their job is to tend to the man's sheep all summer long on Brokeback Mountain. Quite frankly, it's pretty lousy work. The food is terrible, the nights are cold, and the only thing Jack and Ennis have to keep them company are their horses and dogs.
On one particularly cold night, the two share a tent together and wind up making love. The next morning, they empathically state that neither is "queer" and that it was only a one-time thing. But, that one-time thing will turn into an on-again, off-again romance that lasts nearly two decades.
After parting ways, Ennis marries his long-time fiancée, Alma (Michelle Williams), and lives by meager means. He works as a ranch hand and lives in a small apartment above a laundromat with his wife and two daughters. Meanwhile, Jack finds himself better off after marrying Lureen (Anne Hathaway), a beautiful rodeo girl. Lureen gets him a job selling tractors for her well-to-do father and soon gives birth to a son named Bobby.
Time rolls by and Ennis receives a postcard from Jack asking to drop by. Reunited, the two men embrace in a passionate kiss. Unbeknownst to either of them, the act is witnessed by Alma and that single kiss will haunt her and tear Ennis's marriage apart. Under the guise of going fishing or camping, Jack and Ennis get together every several months or so for the next few years.
Jack views their relationship with a bit more optimism and even dreams of some day running away to Mexico. However, Ennis doesn't wish to part from his daughters and is haunted by a childhood memory of the brutal murders of a gay couple. The strain of his divorce and the mounting child support payments also take their toll as Ennis finds himself more and more reluctant to continue on with their secret trysts.
Throughout his career, Ang Lee has dealt many times with the themes of troubled relationships. One can look at "Eat Drink Man Woman", "The Ice Storm", and even "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" and "Hulk" as examples of this. "Brokeback" continues with those themes as Jack and Ennis struggle to be with each other, while trying to maintain some semblance of a "normal" family life.
Lee's work on "Brokeback" earned him an abundance of awards and accolades, including the Oscar for Best Director. Looking at the beauty of the film, it's easy to see why. The countryside of Alberta, which stands in for Wyoming, is treated by Lee and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto in a similar manner to the way John Ford shot Monument Valley. The extraordinary scenery accentuates the solitude and loneliness of the two leads. One of the film's most poignant shots comes during a Fourth of July picnic as Ennis stands in the foreground with Alma and the children off to the left as fireworks explode behind them. It is a moment that succinctly sums up the dissolution of their marriage.
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[release]20207[/release]