Brokeback Mountain
Note: I don't think I included any spoilers in this post, so feel free to read it even if you haven't seen the film.
Thanks to a couple conversations with friends who'd seen Brokeback Mountain, I rethought my decision not to see it. Neither of them had read the story, but as I talked about it, they seemed to think the movie wouldn't affect me the same way. One said, "It sounds like the same things happen in the movie, but the tone is different." The other said, "It's definitely sad, but it didn't stay with me for days like some sad films do." I saw Brokeback Mountain while in Napa for a food retailer's conference last week, and I'd agree with both characterizations.
The tone is consistent with other Ang Lee films. Lee has a love and trust of humanity that tempers the crushing loneliness of Proulx's story. Watch for his use of color and light, employed to affect the emotional color of the story (particularly toward the end). There's also an added scene at the end of the film, which gives some hope that the characters have not been abandoned to existential loneliness — as they are in Proulx's story.
As to why the film's sadness doesn't have staying power. I think it's partly Lee's optimism, but also the way the story is told essentially from Ennis's point of view. Ennis is the character played by Heath Ledger, and he's known for his reticence. He's the quintessential sixties cowboy, who's emotions surface only in sidelong glances or quick bursts of passion, and who doesn't say more than three words at a time.
Since the film is seen through Ennis's reticent gaze, my heart had a hard time connecting with it. I knew it was sad, but I didn't feel the sadness. Interestingly, Ennis reminds me a lot of my father, and I sometimes have the same problem connecting emotionally with Dad. I was raised in a generation that talks things out (sometimes ad nauseum), and the quiet contemplation of the cowboy is very hard for me to read.
So would I reccomend Brokeback Mountain? Certainly. Although, I'd say see the film and skip the short story. Like all Ang Lee's films (even Hulk), Brokeback deals with some tough subjects while cherishing the beauty of the human spirit. It doesn't shy away from the horror of the closet and the destructive force it has on the lives of those we seek to save by going in it, but it doesn't leave it's characters there. I wish I could say the same for Annie Proulx's story.
That, and the cinematography and lighting in the film are absolutely fantastic, as they always are in an Ang Lee film.
