After a summer working together on the titular mountain, two cowboys (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) fall in love but society and personal issues keep them apart.
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Though I admired and enjoyed this film when it was first released, a question kept gnawing at my brain: Why this one? What made this film so much more special than all the other queer films that had come before? Was it even really a queer film? Straight stars, straight writers, straight director, gay story. I felt like I was missing something. I kept looking for subtext in every nook and cranny, but to no avail.
With nearly a decade elapsed since its initial release I decided it was time to give Brokeback Mountain another look. Perhaps this time I would find what I'd been looking for all those years ago.
What I found was a film of starling beauty. Every shot makes your heart ache. The direction is so delicate. One false step and many of the lines, hairstyles and costumes in this film could have lead to chuckles. Yet somehow Ang Lee and company were able to dance that tightrope as though it were a ballroom floor. And let us not forget that Heath Ledger's Ennis is nothing short of a living, breathing, human being. In short, I was finally able to appreciate this film for what it is: a remarkably heartbreaking and passionate piece of filmmaking.
Why is Brokeback Mountain "the one"? Because it is.
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