The Best Films of the Zeroes: 6

6. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. (2006)
Directed by Ang Lee

Ang Lee is a brilliant filmmaker. There are some sentences that need no embellishment whatsoever, because they simply contain the truth, and any elaboration beyond that distracts from the simplicity of the notion. There is no other modern director like Lee. For nearly twenty years, he has moved from genre to genre, language to language, style to style, and the only thing that has remained consistent since is the highest quality of his work, regardless of the assumed generic constraints. (This paragraph is written with the acceptance of the fact that his latest film, TAKING WOODSTOCK was considered something of a disappointment by many, and is his least inspiring work to date).

Still, you can trace his career from masterpiece to masterpiece, and acknowledge that even his failures come from the ‘inspired’ category (HULK, I’m looking at you, here). You could look at RIDE WITH THE DEVIL or EAT, DRINK, MAN, WOMAN. You could happily watch a double bill of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY and THE ICE STORM (his second best film) and acknowledge that both films are scarily perceptive examinations of their society’s mores. Alternatively, you could find your enjoyment in THE WEDDING BANQUET or CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, or his follow up to BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, the phenomenal LUST, CAUTION.

It is BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN that I’m here to write about, though, not his previous work, but it is so difficult to appreciate the work of a director as fascinating as Lee without context. That the film works isn’t solely down to the director though. There’s the writing, for example. It’s an adaptation of a short story by the Pulitzer Prize™ winning author E. Annie Proulx, which was adapted by Diana Ossana and Pulitzer Prize™ winning author Larry McMurtry. There’s also the acting, which is of an incredibly high standard. Each of the four leads give what were, at the time, career best performances.

The plaudits went mostly to Heath Ledger, whose performance here is every bit as good as, if not better than, his Oscar™ winning turn in THE DARK KNIGHT. He was Oscar™ nominated here, too, but lost out to Philip Seymour Hoffman in CAPOTE, a poor decision, which was overshadowed by the inexplicable victory of CRASH over BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN in the Best Picture category. In all honesty, Ledger’s is the best performance here, although Michelle Williams as his wife, and Jake Gyllenhall as his lover are tremendous. The fourth member of the quartet, and the only one of the four not to be Oscar™ nominated for their work is Anne Hathaway, who plays the wife of Gyllenhall’s character.

Ledger plays Ennis Del Mar, who, along with Jack Twist (Gyllenhall), is given the responsibility of shepherding a local farmer’s flock on the titular mountain. Stuck together for a winter, their relationship becomes physical, and later romantic. The scenes on that mountain are beautiful to look at, and exquisitely handled by Lee. The performances of Ledger and Gyllenhall take root here. Everything that happens in later scenes (and the film spans thirty years) can be traced back to this beginning. Lee’s film remains honest to its characters throughout, and the result is a tragic love story, but one touched with beautiful moments of true happiness. Outside of their relationship with each other, both men get married, and try and establish home lives as satisfying and fulfilling as their relationship, which is crystallised in two or three meetings each year, usually spent back on Brokeback Mountain.

It would be easy to underestimate the importance or power of the actresses’ performances here. Unfortunately, we still live in a time when to play a gay man, while a young and attractive leading man with aspirations of career longevity is a sign of bravery in an actor. As such, it was inevitable that Ledger and Gyllenhall would dominate much of the film’s press. Williams and Hathaway, though, are superb; saddled with characters that could easily have been unlikable – they’re standing in the way of our heroes’ happiness, for one thing, each makes their character completely believable, and every bit as much of a victim as their husbands in the tragedy of a love deemed unacceptable by society.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is a timeless love story. It’s a film as much about the sanctity of romantic love as any other Hollywood classic. It’s exquisitely played, with great chemistry existing in all three relationships that the film explores, beautifully written – the 22 page long script more than adequately filling a two-hour plus running time, with no sign of sag, and directed with a huge amount of skill and heart. There are a number of outstanding scenes, none of which can quite match the pure exhilaration of the blossoming of Jack and Ennis’ love, but give us deeper understanding of the characters involved. The fight scene at the fireworks display is perfectly framed and staged, while if you can survive the ending without crying, there’s potentially something wrong with you. It’s this scene, as Ledger mutters the words ‘Jack, I swear...’, that best illustrates the talent and potential of an actor, of a leading man, taken away much too young. There’s no doubt that he’ll always be best remembered for his thrilling portrayal of The Joker, but it is Ennis Del Mar who will always be his best screen creation, and BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN that will, surely, always be the crowning achievement of Ang Lee’s glittering career.