Brokeback - The Review

Yes folks, almost longer in the making than the original film (ok, ok, I'm just kidding) here is Noodle's long-awaited review of ....

A Cowboy Film with a (Jack) Twist
"When you wait YEARS for a movie (or a review, for that matter ;) to be released, it can be disappointing to eventually see it. Against all odds, after having watched the trailer countless times, and visited dozens of blogs (with all the plot spoilers you can think of), I was relieved to see this movie, and not be disappointed AT ALL.

The story, in case you hadn't heard, is about two young men, ranch-hand Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), who meet while driving sheep on a mountain range during the summer of 1963. After a drunken night, they suddenly realise their sexual attraction to each other, which gradually transforms itself into true love. At the end of the summer, they give back the sheep, buy a ranch and live there happily ever after…What?! No way, dude! It’s 1963, and it’s W-y-o-m-i-n-g!

Based on Annie Proulx’s short story, the movie successfully portrays an "impossible" love story that lasts more than two decades as the two men see each other sporadically, while also keeping up appearances with their wives and children.

It's a movie with several layers: First, you’ve got this incredible scenery, with great shots of yankee landscapes that make you want to go errrrm "fishing" in Wyoming, and which also symbolise freedom, being the one place where the two guys can be themselves, away from lives they never really wanted. Then, of course, there's the gay love story. Director Ang Lee handles the topic in a very delicate and sober manner, without shying away from the problems it creates for both of the main characters. We see Jack's clumsy attempts to flirt with other men and Ennis's inner struggle - a great performance by Heath Ledger whose mumbling introspection is note-perfect.

But BBM is also a movie filled with silences: between Ennis and his wife Alma (Michelle Williams - great), but also with his daughter, and even between Ennis and Jake…silences only broken by a great not-too-country "country music" soundtrack (Oscar material too). Some people have criticized this for making the film drag, but to my mind, it really was the best way to portray 20 years of forbidden love in 2h20. It's definitely a story you find yourself thinking about days after watching the movie, kind of like an emotional timebomb. I can only hope you'll be as deeply moved by this movie as I was ("hear, hear" says rhino75)."