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Bonus Review #7
Film: Brokeback Mountain [R] 134 minutes
WIP: $14.00
When 2nd Seen: 29 January 2006
Where Viewed: Regal Cinemas East Valley 13, Renton, WA
Time: 4:00 p.m.
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There has been an incredible amount written about this film Brokeback Mountain. As I saw it for the first time prior to the beginning of my “A Movie Every Day” Blog, I did not get my review, obviously, in on the first round of critiques. And not wanting to duplicate unintentionally what others may have said already, and knowing now that Brokeback Mountain has already reached heralded acclaim with the Golden Globe® for Best Dramatic Film and surely will be nominated for Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and having already published my obvious approval for this film on my top movies of 2005 list with a W.I.P. of $14, I spent a bit of time thinking about what I might write in this bonus Brokeback Mountain review. So here goes.
Indeed, in watching the film for the second time, I reflected intently upon a few things. The main of which was what this movie is really about. Why have so many people who have seen this film, regardless of their perspective on the lives of the characters involved, found it fascinating? It occurred to me that the movie is, at the core, about two things: first, the yearning for lasting happiness and, second, the fear of loneliness. Some might say these two things cause each other because those who devote a lifetime to their pursuit of the first are doomed to a lifetime of the second. Searching for a life of unshakable bliss is to be destined to solitude. A large measure of what makes true bliss blissful is the risk that, at any moment, it may flee. If the longevity of utopia were not uncertain surely it would not be as worth the attempt to seek it. Subsequently, the pursuit shall leave the seeker alone in a cold and empty existence detached from the fragility, beauty, mystery, and unpredictability that enrich real life. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle says that we cannot simultaneously know both the position and energy of an electron because in the measuring of one we change the other, and so it is from that very foundation of our sub-atomic existence everything else about our lives is forged. We cannot seek to ensure our happiness without changing circumstances that at our nature make us happy. This is why so many of us walk through our daily lives as if in a daze. No one can be truly happy with a routine and mundane existence. There must be things to surprise, dare, tease, inspire, amuse, hurt, hamper, scare, and challenge us every day. Don’t believe me? Try being a true couch potato for a while. See how long you really enjoy it.
So, here we have two cowboys, brought up in a culture where any sort of relationship beyond ‘fishing buddies’ is not only forbidden but potentially life-threatening, who find themselves on a precipice. Can they risk everything to have the real love they feel or not. On the one hand we have Jack Twist, brought to life with near puppy dog enthusiasm by Jake Gyllenhaal. He understands that life is to be lived to the fullest, that every day is a treasure, and that sometimes to get what you really want in life you have to make some huge sacrifices and long-term commitments. Then, on the other hand, there is Ennis Del Mar, played brilliantly by Heath Ledger (does he have some Australian cowboy in him somewhere?), who can neither bring himself to accept who he really is nor can he reconcile a life without real risk. He so obviously yearns for a life with Jack, yet even the thought of such a life induces so great a fear as to render him nearly unconscious. He worries that there is too much danger and too much risk. In the end, he learns that waiting until such a time as when the fear and risk no longer exist may just be too long, and that perpetual safety being the root of happiness is a myth.
So, how many of us have sat back and allowed our fears to prevent us from taking the very risks that would actually set our souls free and bring us the true happiness we have long sought? To me, that is the great liberating power of Brokeback Mountain. In the spectacular setting of the mountainous west where the sky goes on until tomorrow, Ang Lee has really made a movie about freedom. As human beings, every day, we must get up each morning and ask ourselves, “What price freedom?” for the root of our true freedom is living life unafraid to make decisions that will yield us true happiness.
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DVD Options Available for Purchase
Brokeback Mountain (Widescreen Version) [DVD] (2005) DVD
Brokeback Mountain [DVD] (2005) DVD
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