User Reviews

I've always admired this film to a certain extent, but I think the thing that always kept me from loving it was that it never resonated with me emotionally. I would get attached while watching it, but all of those feelings would leave me fairly soon afterward. It had been about five years since I'd seen the film, and in that time I have grown up a lot, fallen in love, had my heart ripped to shreds and fallen back in love again and I think this growth personally has really opened me up to a place in my mind and heart to embrace this film more than most other screen romances that exist. Almost immediately it hit me harder than it had before and after a day since I watched it, the pain and heartache I experienced during it still remains at my core.

It's a love film told non-traditionally, but not because it's two men, that doesn't even factor into the depiction of it. It's nontraditional because it's two people fighting against the love and it's accuracy in this is startling. How there are times where you can hate the person you love, hate so many things about them and hate that you are in love with them, but you can't give it up at all. You can't walk away from it because it's like an addiction and I think this film more than any before it captures that remarkably.

A lot of this lies in the writing, but of course the performances from Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal certainly play a key factor in capturing it. Their characters take the love in different forms, Ennis fighting himself over it and Jack fighting the world because of it, but both actors capture exactly what they need to and bring this magnetism that really sparks. Gyllenhaal's openness is beautiful, his determination to make the love work and to just exist the way he wants to, he definitely provides the emotional anchor for the film and gives a heartbreaking portrayal.

It's Ledger, of course, who steals the show though, with a kind of transcendent performance that we're treated to maybe once a decade. He becomes this character in such a vivid way that you don't even recognize the actor inside the role anymore. Gyllenhaal is Jack and hits the surface notes expertly, but you can still see Jake Gyllenhaal in there. Heath Ledger is completely gone and from the very beginning of the film we have Ennis and we have him until the very end. This character is an incredibly difficult one to take on, he could have easily been someone who was hard to like or sympathize with due to his internalizing and his refusal to fully embrace the relationship and who he is, but that's what makes it hit even harder, thanks to Ledger's brutal work.

You see the pain in this person living a lie in every moment we have with him, with that turned in mouth and speech pattern that always sounds like it's hurting him to let anything out because he's afraid of how people are going to react. It's a performance unlike any other out there and in the end it's one that brings me to my knees. "Jack, I swear," was always a line that floored me when I was watching it but now it's at a point where just thinking of the line and the way that Ledger delivers it brings some water to my eyes.

I have viewed Brokeback Mountain a total of three times on a 50 inch plasma. I spaced my views almost six months apart so I could grasp more completely and without prejudice, how I would rate this flick.

It is beyond a doubt an American classic and looking back I regret so profoundly the death of Heath, who played Enis. The amount of acting skill and diversity it took to do such a touching and completely honest job, makes this young man, Heath Ledger, a legend.

The scenes in the Brokeback were beautiful and allowed me to imagine somehow I was transformed back in time watch these young men.

The truth is neither one of the characters was entirely gay, rather bisexual, but they did find each other as their own natural soul mates.

Unfortunately cultural prejudice and homophobia prevented them from doing what Jack Twist had dreamed, ranching together on his father's spread.

The final scenes are absolutely acted with such depth of character, the viewer is taken to tears. The Brokeback will not have Jack's ashes, since even in death, the culture denies him his final request, his ashes spread upon the Brokeback.

Many of the bigots who have posted here on this fine cinema should be ashamed as they bray their ignorance for all to read.

A fine film and probably one of the top love stories of all time in film.

I have to say what really impressed me the most was the scope of it all. I expected it to focus by and large on the immediate aftermath of Jack and Ennis' first coupling, but to my welcome surprise the whole film had a real sweeping, epic quality to it. When the bond that they shared survives such change in their circumstances it made the whole tale that much more evocative. It shows that regardless of your gender or your approach to relationships, love is like a tick that gets under your skin and won't ever stop affecting your mental processes throughout all of your time on earth (and don't I know that that sure is the truth... !!)

Helping to emphasize these developments is some gorgeously languid direction by Lee - his camera seeming to caress the landscape he films - and also a wonderfully subtle turn from Ledger, especially. This shows Heath in a different light to any of his other films, and if he can transform himself this well, then maybe he isn't as much of a risk as I thought for Nolan's 'Joker', after all!

I don't feel qualified to say whether it was the best picture of its year, but I certainly thought that it was braver and more emotionally genuine than "Crash". If you're anybody who's going to give "Brokeback... " a shot (and I suggest that everyone does) my advice is not to concentrate on its differences, but to instead take a clearer look at the smaller intimate details that can bring us all closer together if only we choose to let them.

I love this movie. Really love it. Haunting score, stunning cinematography, gripping performances, timeless tale--everything. People quibble about non-essentials. I'm female, middle-aged, hetero, and I defy you to tell me that the average straight guy is any more expressive than Ennis or any less needy than Jack. Or the average gal, either, straight or gay. Deeper than their sex, their sexuality, their religious, educational, economic or historic backgrounds, Jack and Ennis are two human beings living in the world as they find it--beautiful and indifferent at best, and as they find themselves--beautiful and flawed at best. Desire is desire. The desire for warmth, for connection, for any echo at all in the vastness of time and space, is shared by every human being ever to have lived. For me, the issue is not how repressed or thwarted Ennis and Jack are, but how persistently they turn toward the light, despite all impediment. Brokeback Mountain lyrically retells a story thousands of years old: loss and grief are unavoidable; love is where you find it.

For all of those who are holding back from watching this movie because it is "gay" or has love scenes between two men...oh! This movie has nothing to do with sex...and to be honest, I don't feel that it has much to do with homosexuality. This is the most beautiful and profoundly sad love story I have ever come across, and the fact that it is a love between two men is beside the point. It's about a love between two people who cannot be together, but if human beings were better at being human, and if the world was a better place, they would have lived out their lives side by side. I was so, so moved. AMAZING!!!! A must see.

Controversial on a number of levels, yet tame by a number of standards, this is a film that will reach its audience in different ways, depending on their own personal journey - whether gay or straight. How we receive this movie - and how we relate - is indicative of where we're at in our own lives - and this is what makes this film brilliant. We follow the story of Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) and Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) who fall unexpectedly in love during a stint as a pair of sheep herders in Wyoming during the 1960's. What follows is the struggle to keep their desires hidden from a prejudiced society and the agony of remaining committed to their marriages while living double lives. There is a consistent undertone of melancholy throughout this film, from beginning to end, and some viewers will find this heavy. But this doesn't detract from the point conveyed by Ang Lee, its director. The impressive feature of this movie is the fact that every actor puts in a solid performance - in particular some of the "peripheral" actors - and this is quite rare in films where quite a number of the performers have very small roles. (Look at Anna Faris 'Lashawn Malone'; Kate Mara 'Alma Del Mar, Jr.', age 19; and Roberta Maxwell 'Jack's mother' for outstanding examples.) In terms of the main actors, Michelle Williams is outstanding, and Anne Hathaway almost steals the show! The only thing that seems to leave the film falling flat is the fact that there doesn't seem to be a positive resolution. Some will take this as an indication that gay men will end up facing tragedy and be confined to a life of loneliness. And we all might need to watch this with English subtitles, because for a majority of the film, we cannot understand what Heath Ledger's mumbled dialogue! This is incredibly disappointing - particularly considering that he delivers the very final line in the film and I am still unable to figure out what it is! (I'll have to get the DVD and throw on the subtitles!!) However, this film certainly does provoke an emotional response. And whether that response is one of anger, disgust, sadness, happiness, elation, denial, self-loathing, confusion, relief, empathy or curiosity, you are alive during those two hours. Highly recommended.

Brokeback Mountain finally premiered in Rochester last night. Before I continue, I just want to say that before I walked into the theater, my conscience was saying not to go, because of my past view on homosexuality. My idea was that it was wrong and immoral.

However, I still cleared my mind and gave myself the strength to pay attention. And I'm glad I did.

'Cause I wasn't watching another gay-biased film. I wasn't even watching a new work that Ang Lee put out just to say he did something. No, I was watching an engaging, emotional, heart-felt romantic drama. Just with homosexual characters instead of the typical male-female romance.

Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar deserves not only an Oscar nod, but a win as well. Jake Gyllenhaal was also good as Jack Twist.

In the end, I learned that homosexuality should be tolerated, and that it's their own choice and no one else's.

ACTING: 10 WRITING: 10 DIRECTION: 10 MUSIC: 10 OVERALL: 10

I didn't believe for a moment that the film could live up to the hype, or to some of the comments posted here, some of them read like love letters to the film, to the director and the actors. Well, now, after seeing the film, I feel like writing a love letter myself. The film took over my senses and transported me. The tragedy that envelopes the lives of Ennis and Jack is caused by an ancestral ignorance that is part of our DNA and if you don't believe me read some of the hateful comments posted here alongside the love letters. That's the heart of the matter. After the summer in Brokeback Mountain, Ennis and Jack go their separate ways and Ennis hits a wall with his fists crying, trying to destroy his longing, self loathing, guilt, horror. Imagine in a world without ignorance and therefore without hatred, Ennis and Jack could have celebrated their love and attempt an honest life together. Imagine also if things were the other way and heterosexuals were the dark minority, imagine falling in love with a girl and having to keep it secret, never been able to tell or to show publicly your love for her. Men like Ennis, and there are many, have to curve their own emotions and conform, entering and developing unhappy marriages and why? Read some of the comments here and you'll understand why. There is one that condemns the movie and what the movie may do for his kid and his vision of cowboys without actually having seen the movie! That's the heart of the matter. I will go and see the film again tomorrow, if I can get tickets, I'm taking with me a group of people that hate the movie already without having seen it. I won a bet so they will have to. I'm taking them to diner later to talk. I intend to report the results if you let me. But for the time being let me tell you, "Brokeback Mountain" is an extraordinary film. Jake Gyllenhaal, Ann Hathaway and the magnificent Michelle Williams give superb performances but it's Heath Ledger's film. He gives us something that nobody could possibly have expected because what he gives us is not only, honest and moving and powerful but totally and utterly new.

There was a lot of talk about this film, a lot of publicity because of the gay interest in the script, and like always when there is too much talk, I don't pay for a seat because there are a lot of clever marketing scams around these days.

It went away and then it was in my video store. I waited. Then it went on "3 for a week for a fiver" and I rented it. Ang Lee did a great job there, not only in shooting a difficult story, but also with exceptional photography (it looks like an ad for a cigarette brand, but I don't remember which) and brilliant acting and bringing us back to the US in the 1960s.

The story itself, about a secret love affair, is dealt with cleverly, and with qualities in the script, in the performance, and without cheap and easy voyeurism, which in itself is admirable of Ang Lee. Heterosexual love is the subject of so many films that directors lack practise in treating homosexual love, and with the controversy around Brokeback Mountain managing to get through the minefield was not easy. I felt a bit that only one of the two cowboys was in love with the other - but this is an opinion only, but most importantly it seems to me that Brokeback Mountain deals also with the eternal topic of forbidden love, and in that way manages to send the gay aspect of this love to the background

Brokeback Mountain.

A movie about many things. But for me one thing stood out. And that was the sheep. Being from New Zealand you can appreciate my love for sheep.

All the sheep gave really good performances playing sheep. I felt the cast of 700 sheep did a fantastic job portraying 117,000 sheep. Not one time was I able to distinguish which sheep were used for particular shots. Now that is what I call method acting.

Casting did a great job getting just the right sheep for the meatier roles. I hear some sheep were flown in at last minute from all over. But credit to crew who obviously had to pull strings to get such a great ensemble. And a pat on the back for the producers who showed guts in hiring not only the best sheep, but taking a gamble on some of the unknowns too.

Ang Lee I feel really captured the essence of sheep.

He also captured that other stuff too.

But really good job on the sheep. I had lamb chops for dinner that night and I must say they tasted just that little bit better. Thanks Ang!

This movie exceeded my already high expectations. It's exceptionally realised - the direction is superb and the acting is excellent. I was entranced by the story from the very outset. I empathised with the characters to the point of actual heartbreak. This is a film of such honesty; tackling a topic that is still a taboo in today's "liberal" society. How many movies have you seen that portray gay love in a sensitive, non-judgmental fashion? There are several moments when, even if you find it difficult to deal with the physical depiction of homosexual love (even though it's not at all graphic), viewers who value love won't be able to prevent themselves from empathising with the characters - Ennis' reaction when he has to leave Jack for the first time and when, during their argument at their last meeting, Ennis says something that is heartbreaking in its poignancy.

These lovers - the open-hearted Jack and the silent, suffering Ennis - shared one perfect summer and much of the rest of their lives is a cruel compromise - simply because the world won't allow their love.

Like all truly good movies, Brokeback Mountain stays with you long after the last image fades from the screen. It makes you question your preconceptions and hopefully makes you want to make the world a place where all people are free to love whom they want as they please.

It was a real ordeal to get into the screening. The anticipation was palpable. The film arrived surrounded by a plethora of innuendo. "A gay western" "Heath and Jake's hot scenes" As soon as the film started every imaginable preconception flew out of the auditorium. This is a remarkable, moving and powerful love story. The setting is that of a modern western "The Last Picture Show" comes to mind. Ang Lee's attention to detail verges on science fiction. You can actually smell the place. Extraordinary. I'm not going to reveal anything about the story - Gian Luigi Rondi a legendary Italian film critic, revealed the ending to a television audience, what was he thinking?! - The film will be enjoyed much more allowing the story to unfold without having passages underlined and attention drawn to this or that particular. I felt compelled to write this comment because I'm overwhelmed. It has changed my perception, I must confess, about certain aspect of same sex love because I didn't think of same sex when I was watching it, I saw two human beings (amazing performances by both actors)I have the feeling "Brokeback Mountain" will make history, deservedly so.

I think this movie is very interesting and exciting.It talks about two men work together.I think gay couple can be accepted because love is free.Although this movie is not accepted by Christians because gay couple is not accepted in the Bible but many people are very interested in this movie. Boy or girl is not a big problem,the most important is your choice. I think we should not care about how other people feel about you because of being gay couple.I think they should not give up. But they should tell their family about that.I think this is the best movie that I haven't seen before and I think I have learnt a lot of things from watching this movie. I like it so much !

Ang Lee's devastatingly beautiful "Brokeback Mountain" is a magnificent achievement. Early in production, the film was dubbed "the gay cowboy movie." The term is a tragic simplification of what is actually an exquisite love story, gay or straight. "Brokeback" is quickly shedding its nickname and breaking down barriers as more and more people actually see it and succumb to its beauty and heartache.

The film is small in budget, but epic in scale and vision. It begins in Wyoming in 1963. Nineteen-year-olds Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) have been assigned a flock of sheep to guard on Brokeback Mountain. Ennis is a taciturn ranch hand who in one conversation with Jack says more than he has in an entire year. Jack, a part-time bull rider, is the more extroverted of the two. They make an unlikely pair, but Lee handles the developing relationship with great tact so as to make sure it is believable.

One night, after a long evening of drinking, Jack and Ennis surprise themselves by having sex. The scene is an awkward experience not only for the characters, but for the audience watching them as well. Had the sex been between a man and a woman, the scene might not have been given a second thought. The fact that it breaks from tradition, presenting a so-called "forbidden love" unabashedly up-close and intimate, is part of what makes the film such a cinematic landmark. "This is a one shot thing we got going' here," says Ennis the next day. "You know I ain't no queer." "Me neither," replies Jack. Quite the opposite is true, however. That fateful night on the mountainside sets into motion a tumultuous romance that will span two decades.

After their summer on Brokeback, both men eventually marry and have children. Ennis finds a loving and devoted wife in Alma (Michelle Williams). Jack meets a real live-wire in Lureen (Anne Hathaway), whose father owns an expensive farm equipment business in Texas. One day a postcard arrives for Ennis postmarked Jack Twist. It is the first word he has heard from him in over four years. The two reunite in a tryst of wild passion, and are once again caught up in what they thought they had left behind on Brokeback Mountain.

As the years pass, Ennis and Jack meet only for the occasional "fishing trip." During one of these trips, Jack suggests he and Ennis buy a ranch together somewhere in the country. Ennis dismisses the idea as a fantasy. "Bottom line is, we're around each other and this thing grabs hold of us, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and we're dead." Ennis recounts a childhood memory of a man who was tortured and killed because he lived with another man. His father made sure he saw the body.

The rest of the story I will not reveal because some events are better left to be experienced in the theater where their power can be fully absorbed and appreciated.

"Brokeback Mountain" would not work half as well as it does if it were not for the multitude of fine performances throughout. The women are uniformly excellent. Michelle Williams, a long way from her days on "Dawson's Creek," gives a performance of somber perfection. One scene in particular in which she confronts Ennis about his fishing trips is almost enough to guarantee her a nomination come Oscar time. Anne Hathaway, best known from Disney's "The Princess Diaries" films, shines as well. The extremely talented but often overlooked Randy Quaid, Linda Cardellini, and Anna Farris each have brief but memorable roles that, despite their brevity, are integral parts of the story. Jake Gyllenhaal caps off a great year with his superbly nuanced performance as Jack, a doe-eyed optimist who grows tired of only being able to see Ennis two or three times a year. As Ennis, Heath Ledger delivers the performance of a lifetime. Ennis is a man of few words, but when he does speak, it is as if the words are literally punching to get out. Ledger proves that sometimes less is more as he uses his body to express things that words alone never could. Ledger is, in a word, brilliant.

Screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana deserve recognition for adapting the eleven-page short story by Annie Proulx into a two-and-a-quarter hour film. Dialogue in the film is sparse, but it only serves to make each word uttered that much more important. When Ennis says, "If you can't fix it, you've got to stand it," our hearts break because we know there is nothing that should need to be fixed.

In addition to being one of the most compellingly acted and written films of the year, "Brokeback Mountain" is the most stunningly photographed. The tagline, "love is a force of nature," fits it perfectly. Ang Lee and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto use every opportunity they have to connect the power and beauty of nature (lakes, streams, clouds, rain, snow, hail, thunder, etc.) to the most raw and complex of human emotions. Brokeback Mountain itself is a symbol of freedom for Jack and Ennis. It is the only place they can go to truly love, and be loved, with no restraints.

"Brokeback Mountain" is a film of limitless possibilities. Its true power lies within its ability to linger and haunt long after the final credits have rolled. It forces us, as any good film should, to ask questions, questions about the world and ourselves. As I sat and watched "Brokeback" I couldn't help but wonder what life might have been like for Ennis and Jack had they found each other today. Would their fates be any different? I would like to think so.

I made it a point not to read any detailed summaries or reviews of this movie before going to view it. I am so glad I did. The scenery was breathtaking and almost surreal. The cast completed each other almost perfectly. Heath Ledger's performance will be discussed for years to come, as well as Jake Gyllenhaal's. You cannot leave from this work of art without being affected by it. This was a beautiful and extremely touching portrait of a love story between two people that I can only classify as universal. Go see it and form your own opinion; I think you will be profoundly surprised. I honestly feel this movie will change cinema as we know it.

There's only one thing that runs through my mind: WOW. The way the characters come to life is beyond words. The emotional scenes were played with full devotion to their work. The movie left me with a weird feeling for days. I didn't cry although I was happy that the emotional scenes were not blown up, you know like to much drama. That makes it so realistic. Normally when you watch those types of movies, you say to yourself ah..it's just a movie. With this masterpiece you don't get that feeling at all. The balance between fiction and real life are perfectly dosed. It's like your part of the movie..Sensational feeling. You feel sad and happy at the same time...you feel sorry for them not able to express their love. I thought America was the land of freedom!! Not as long Bush is around. Anyhow... this is not a political debate. Oscars? The answer: Definitely deserved. I hope it opens the eyes of people like them living a double life. THIS MOVIE IS A MUST TO SEE! Greetz from ANTWERP

The first mainstream gay western (Warhol's 'Lonesome Cowboys' can only be described as niche or cult), 'Brokeback Mountain' was the surprise hit of 2005, another triumph for the talented director Ang Lee (who also gave us such diverse films as The Ice Storm, Sense and Sensibility, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon).

Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) are the cowboys who start working together and find an intense sexual attraction which will continue to burn for twenty years. The film covers those two decades as we watch the idealistic Jack, who dreams of acceptance and a life with Ennis out on the ranch, and the tormented, disturbed Ennis (who remembers gay cowboys being murdered in his youth), who can't connect with anyone and anything other than his lonely soul.

Extremely slow in pace, and all the better for it in an age of fast, rushed films for the MTV generation, 'Brokeback Mountain' is a love story just as valid as any other. For a mainstream movie to even address some of the issues looked at here is amazing, and the film benefits from sensitive direction, low-key romantic scenes, and total commitment from the leading actors. Gyllenhaal is better than he was in 'Donnie Darko', but he is overshadowed by Ledger, who shows here what a fantastic actor he was. It is a tragedy that his early death has robbed us from seeing this talent grow. Here in this film he resembles a young James Dean in 'Giant', playing older than his age with ease.

Not an easy film to watch, then, but it repays close study and patience, and some of its lines and images will stay with you for a long time after the credits roll. Proof that intelligent cinema can still survive in the age of blockbuster action flicks.

Brokeback Mountain can look like a good film. From a technical standpoint, its pretty well done.

But all the hype and glowing reviews from a mostly liberal and pro-gay media only came about because the story was about two men who had gay sex. That's it.

There's nothing really remarkable about Brokeback Mountain. Its not a love story and in fact it seems to be anti-love. Both the main characters betray their families and reject those who do love them.

The plot is somewhat dull and the overall feel of the film is depressing.