"I wish I knew how to quit you!"
"Well why don't you just let me be.
I am nothing, I am nowhere
All because of you ...."
These are the lines from one of the most powerful scene in the movie Brokeback mountain. This is a heartwrenching love story between 2 males, who stumbled upon the idea of a "same-sex relationship" and didn't know what to do about it. Why? It was set in the early 60s, when homosexuality was probably a very very alien notion. No one knows what it was, and no one practised it openly, because they might get killed for being an anomaly. And people did get killed for being a queer in those times.
So what's to do when they discover that they felt very strongly for each other? They kept things under wraps, while pretending to move on living like regular people. And thus, all their life, they are living a lie. This is a tragic love story that will not work out, at least in those times. And the story succeed in showing how much they cared for each other and tried so hard to make time to spend with each other secretly. Ennis (Played by Heath Ledger) and Jack (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) had to live a double life, and couldn't let anyone know about their true inclination of his sexual preference. I figure it would be akin to forcing a girl to act and talk like a man, just to hide her true gender - in other words, life would be a living hell. The 2 characters are going through living hell. Ennis obviously wrecked his life because of he didn't know how to deal with his situation, and chooses to hide and run. While Jack, got so tired of running and hiding, eventually had to suffer the consequences of his incapability to hide the truth.
This is a tragic love story of 2 person who couldn't openly be together. It is akin to any other heterosexual unrequitted love story. Only difference is this is based on 2 males. I urge those who are "homo-phobic" to give this film a chance.
The film is beautifully filmed, and exceptionally powerful. The writing was great and the screenplay was a masterpiece. Heath Ledger put up an outstanding performance that was both heartwrenching and touching. This is truly Ang Lee's most powerful work so far. Bravo!
3 comments:
how did jack die in the end? really from the car accident? or killed by others? my frens and i have different views, what's your take?
definitely murdered!
*spoiler alert* Murdered. The way the wife described he died "the tyre exploded in his face and destroyed half of it" was similar to the story that Ennis's father told him when he was young about how this two folks were killed for living together at the ranch (as queers). It was no coincidence that the story was similar. The wife when recounting the story, was not sad, until she realised that Ennis was a possible lover too. She probably was the one who had Jack killed after discovering Jack's affair with his neighbor's husband.
Post a Comment