Heath Ledger in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain
A Love Story which Explores the Tragic Consequences of Homophobia
Dec 31, 2008
Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist portray one of the most convincing couples in love on film. Ennis is the strong silent type who has difficulty expressing his love for anybody. Jack is the more outgoing type, emotionally more expressive and needy, but also the catalyst for the relationship. By midpoint of the movie, these early, almost caricatured positions are long forgotten, as the emotional interaction between the characters, bounded and constrained by the social expectations that govern their identities as “cowboys,” fills the screen as the main character in the story.
The emotional angst of the two characters who are prohibited from being together only by the heterosexual imperative of their social setting is wrenching but not manipulative and certainly not overdone. Jack’s insistent daydream that one day he and Ennis will run a ranch together finds a painful counterpoint in Ennis’s quiet and sad assertion, informed by memories of a violent gay-bashing, that their infrequent weekend getaways can be their only reality.
Brilliant Performances
Both actors offer understated performances that speak volumes. Heath Ledger’s facial expressions – conveying apology, affection, thoughtfulness, pain – are masterfully subtle but evocative. Jake Gyllenhaal’s character, though much more brash, nevertheless shows incredible moments of tenderness, as if not to “spook” Jack's beloved. Jack treats Ennis gently and longingly, thanks to thoughtful camerawork, Jack’s feelings of loneliness the minute Ennis leaves him is palpable.
A Close Examination of Sex and Intimacy
At first glance, it might seem like Ennis and Jack’s first sexual encounter will do little but reinforce negative stereotypes about gay male sex. However, this first sexual encounter is crucial: it demonstrates, for Ennis especially, the inner conflict between social imperatives and the emotional and physical need that the characters experience. Occurring long after their emotional connection has been established, the sex scene does seem a little volatile, even violent, as if to reflect the violent means by which Ennis must overcome his internalized homophobia (that incident from childhood is everpresent) in order to realize and express his love for Jack. Indeed, in the following shot, Ennis tries to insist that the sex was a “one-time thing,” which seems at first to break Jack’s heart, but when Ennis crawls into the tent to apologize and touches Jack’s face ever so lightly, it's clear that Ennis has fallen hard.
The moments of intimacy between Jack and Ennis that follow were some of the most compelling scenes because of the counterpoint they provide to the scenes of heterosexual intimacy. The camerawork and the staging of these scenes sets the two characters up as equals, reinforcing the sense of honesty in their emotional and physical connection. In stark contrast, the sex scenes with their wives are shot in a very traditional way: the male and female characters are not equals. Sex in these scenes is performed perfunctorily and is often used to control, to hurt, to manipulate.
The Heterosexual Imperative Examined
The female leads, played by Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams, are also shown to be victims of the heterosexual imperative. Ennis’s wife is not particularly a likable character, but the pain she feels once she discovers Ennis’s secret comes across clearly. She, as the wife of a poor cowboy, is similarly constrained by socially-sanctioned gender roles and class expectations. Jack’s mother is the most sympathetic of the female characters. The text of her conversation with Ennis, after Jack’s death, is written in her nurturing gestures: feeding him, allowing him to take Jack’s shirt, touching his hand briefly and gently when she tells him to come visit her again.
Love is a Force of Nature
This was a nearly seamless movie. If the emotional honesty and intensity of the film doesn’t hook the viewer, the cinematography will. The movie was shot in Alberta, and this too works on a thematic level: only in a place full of natural grandeur could such a love story be told.
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