Monday, January 23, 2006
NO GREATER SORROW
Saw Brokeback Mountain with Viv about a month ago. Yeah, I know, that’s a long time, but you’re just going to have to trust my memory.
The film opens in rural Wyoming in the early sixties. (Actually, I suppose all of Wyoming was rural back then.) Two young men, Jack (Jake Gyllenhall) and Ennis (Heath Ledger), appear at the trailer/office of a rancher – nicely played with dyspeptic grumpiness by Randy Quaid – looking for jobs. They’re hired to herd sheep on the eponymous mountain for the winter.
Jack and Ennis are separated at first. They take turns staying at their camp and keeping watch on the sheep, only exchanging gruff words as they meet for breakfast. Neither wants to make the first friendly gesture for fear of seeming weak, but slowly, the isolation of the setting forces Jack and Ennis to reveal themselves to each other. Although both men gloss over it in conversation, we learn that they are not in touch with their families. We get the feeling that Jack and Ennis are holding back on the exact reasons why and, more importantly, we get a sense of utter loneliness and confusion emanating from them. Both young men seem completely alone, scared, and miserable. I don’t mean to downplay the fact that Brokeback Mountain is about two gay men who love each other, but as Jack and Ennis’s friendship continues to evolve, you get the feeling that what is most important about their relationship is not only that they are able to have sex with each other, but perhaps more importantly that, for the first time in their lives, they’ve each found someone that loves them.
Well, as we all know, Paradise cannot last forever. The herding season comes to an end and Jack and Ennis have to part ways. The sad thing is that a film Paradise begins to crumble too. It’s not that the rest of Brokeback Mountain is bad, it’s just not as good as the beginning. The film becomes cluttered with too much stuff, too many things happening: Ennis has actually had a girl all the time he was herding, and he promptly marries her. Jack, meanwhile, tries his hand at rodeo riding and meets a vivacious, Annie Oakley-type on the circuit. They get married too.
The film proceeds to cut back and forth between the lives of these two young families. There’s so much cutting back and forth that the film’s narrative practically comes to a halt. Jack and Ennis meet up every few years, Jack tells Ennis that they should be together, Ennis says that they can’t, and the cycle repeats itself. I’m not saying that it couldn’t happen like that, only that what had been an exciting film, open to observing human behavior, becomes dull and repetitive, and then some big speeches and big moments creep in. Not a lot, just enough to make you feel like you’re watching an important film.
However, some good stuff comes out of this. Both actresses that play the wives acquit themselves well, particularly Michelle Williams as Ennis’s wife. It may be just a trick of casting, but when you see her girlish face prematurely aged by the pressure of being a young mother with an evasive, remote husband, your heart practically cries out in empathy.
Now, I know it’s not exactly fair to wish for a different film than dealing with the one that was made, and Heath Ledger’s Ennis is clearly the main focus of Brokeback Mountain, but I wish the film had focused on him exclusively. The scenes in the film that concentrate on his life are the strongest after those at the beginning of the film. It’s particularly harrowing to see how Ennis is unable to make emotionally meaningful contact with his wife, children, or anyone else over the course of his life. Again, not to downplay the character’s gayness, but you wonder if Ennis could ever be in a caring relationship with any human being. I suppose many would say that’s the point, that because of the time that he lived in, there was no hope for Ennis, that for fear of persecution, and more insidiously, because of the seed of self-hatred that had been planted in him by his culture, Ennis could never return Jack’s love. I’m not so sure about that, given what we see of Ennis’ character. All I can say is that it’s a relief when the end of the film offers some small hope that he will finally be able to make contact with another human being. ¶ 6:24 PM
The film opens in rural Wyoming in the early sixties. (Actually, I suppose all of Wyoming was rural back then.) Two young men, Jack (Jake Gyllenhall) and Ennis (Heath Ledger), appear at the trailer/office of a rancher – nicely played with dyspeptic grumpiness by Randy Quaid – looking for jobs. They’re hired to herd sheep on the eponymous mountain for the winter.
Jack and Ennis are separated at first. They take turns staying at their camp and keeping watch on the sheep, only exchanging gruff words as they meet for breakfast. Neither wants to make the first friendly gesture for fear of seeming weak, but slowly, the isolation of the setting forces Jack and Ennis to reveal themselves to each other. Although both men gloss over it in conversation, we learn that they are not in touch with their families. We get the feeling that Jack and Ennis are holding back on the exact reasons why and, more importantly, we get a sense of utter loneliness and confusion emanating from them. Both young men seem completely alone, scared, and miserable. I don’t mean to downplay the fact that Brokeback Mountain is about two gay men who love each other, but as Jack and Ennis’s friendship continues to evolve, you get the feeling that what is most important about their relationship is not only that they are able to have sex with each other, but perhaps more importantly that, for the first time in their lives, they’ve each found someone that loves them.
Well, as we all know, Paradise cannot last forever. The herding season comes to an end and Jack and Ennis have to part ways. The sad thing is that a film Paradise begins to crumble too. It’s not that the rest of Brokeback Mountain is bad, it’s just not as good as the beginning. The film becomes cluttered with too much stuff, too many things happening: Ennis has actually had a girl all the time he was herding, and he promptly marries her. Jack, meanwhile, tries his hand at rodeo riding and meets a vivacious, Annie Oakley-type on the circuit. They get married too.
The film proceeds to cut back and forth between the lives of these two young families. There’s so much cutting back and forth that the film’s narrative practically comes to a halt. Jack and Ennis meet up every few years, Jack tells Ennis that they should be together, Ennis says that they can’t, and the cycle repeats itself. I’m not saying that it couldn’t happen like that, only that what had been an exciting film, open to observing human behavior, becomes dull and repetitive, and then some big speeches and big moments creep in. Not a lot, just enough to make you feel like you’re watching an important film.
However, some good stuff comes out of this. Both actresses that play the wives acquit themselves well, particularly Michelle Williams as Ennis’s wife. It may be just a trick of casting, but when you see her girlish face prematurely aged by the pressure of being a young mother with an evasive, remote husband, your heart practically cries out in empathy.
Now, I know it’s not exactly fair to wish for a different film than dealing with the one that was made, and Heath Ledger’s Ennis is clearly the main focus of Brokeback Mountain, but I wish the film had focused on him exclusively. The scenes in the film that concentrate on his life are the strongest after those at the beginning of the film. It’s particularly harrowing to see how Ennis is unable to make emotionally meaningful contact with his wife, children, or anyone else over the course of his life. Again, not to downplay the character’s gayness, but you wonder if Ennis could ever be in a caring relationship with any human being. I suppose many would say that’s the point, that because of the time that he lived in, there was no hope for Ennis, that for fear of persecution, and more insidiously, because of the seed of self-hatred that had been planted in him by his culture, Ennis could never return Jack’s love. I’m not so sure about that, given what we see of Ennis’ character. All I can say is that it’s a relief when the end of the film offers some small hope that he will finally be able to make contact with another human being. ¶ 6:24 PM
