Brokeback Mountain is a truly tragic movie that came out in 2005. It is a movie about two sheep herders who have been sent out to the mountains by themselves to take care of sheep, but end up falling in love with the close proximity of both of them alone 24/7. As two men in the 60s, they believe it doesn’t mean anything. This movie is set between 1963 and 1983. Both men meet each other at 19, so they are around 40 years old in the end. This movie is one of my favorite movies ever, even if it is a little sad. I believe that this movie is way overlooked and needs to be talked about in an actual understanding way. Most of what I have seen, people are making jokes about it. I understand it may be a coping mechanism for the sad part of the movie, but I think it should be recognized more for the deeper meaning. This article contains spoilers. I apologize in advance.
In the movie, Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) both meet for the very first time in the beginning, being sent out on a lonely mountain top to herd sheep. Ennis has a flashback from when he was younger of his dad showing him a dead man who had been harmed by other people because of him being a homosexual. Eventually, the two main characters start enjoying each other’s closeness and fall in love in spite of the social stigma attached to homosexuality. After their season of herding sheep is over, they go back to their normal lives without each other, never running into each other. They find wives during their time away, trying to fill the gap each other left and trying to fit into the expectations of what men are supposed to do during their time. They meet once again four years later, leaving their wives and telling their wives it’s just a fishing trip with an old buddy. One time during their meeting, Ennis’s wife catches them together, and the couple eventually gets divorced. Ennis never finds someone again. Ennis remains lonely for most of his life without Jack, sometimes seeing his oldest daughter. Near the last time they met, Ennis tells Jack that he cannot meet the next time they planned to. Jack turns mad, saying his famous quote a lot of people may know the movie by: ‘I wish I knew how to quit you.’ His outrage really stuck with me and a lot of others. Ennis leaves Jack in the dust, but eventually he gets a postcard in the mail from Jack. On the postcard, a stamp across the postcard that says “DECEASED” in bright red ink. Jack had died. Ennis gets a call from Jack’s wife, Lureen (Anne Hathaway), saying that Jack wanted his ashes spread on ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ and that it was his favorite place. Ennis eventually meets Jack’s parents. Ennis goes into Jack’s childhood room and finds his own shirt interlocked with Jack’s in his closet. Ennis Del Mar lives alone in a trailer for the rest of his life. Jack’s postcards to Ennis remain hung up on his closet door. Ennis was scared of having a relationship with a man because he feared what would happen to one of them, but they ended up separated in life regardless.
Ennis and Jack are very well-written characters with complex, well-thought-out personalities. Both of them grew during the movie, and seeing their character development throughout really adds to the end of the movie. I think the casting of the movie was perfect. Brokeback Mountain was truly a groundbreaking movie, and I wish I were around to experience the movie when it came out in 2005. The exchange of the postcards during their time away from each other, and Ennis’s face every time he received a postcard from Jack, was moving. Ennis never spoke much. During his time with Jack in the mountains alone, he finally opened up to someone. My favorite part of the whole movie is when Ennis first sees his flannel and Jack’s coat intertwined together and sobs in Jack’s room. The articles of clothing together symbolize how they will forever be intertwined with each other, and even through death, Ennis keeps the two shirts together in his closet. The yearning that is shown throughout the whole movie, and knowing they won’t end up with each other, is just really sad. Considering that this movie was a short story originally, and then was made into a movie, is unbelievable. There is a lot of feeling packed into the 2-hour movie. I think this movie is made fun of way too much because of how the men are homosexual. I wish more people would take it seriously, and some would take into consideration that most of this could most likely happen. I am glad that has received recent praise, and the rising interest in the movie has brought in a bigger audience, but I hope people will show empathy and take the tragic theme seriously.
