Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee, USA, Canada, 2005o
In 1963, they meet for the first time: the young cowboys Ennis and Jack herd a farmer's sheep for a summer in the Midwest state of Wyoming. They soon realise that they have more in common than the animals, and just as quickly that their love would not be accepted in their environment and time. At the end of the summer, they part ways and both marry. But they cannot forget their true love.
Eighteen years have passed since the premiere of this film, which at the time was billed as the first queer cowboy movie, 15 years since the death of its co-star Heath Ledger, who did not live to see his thirtieth birthday and his rise to world fame as the "Joker" due to a toxic cocktail of drugs. Upon reencounter, it's striking that Brokeback Mountain is one thing above all: another master piece by mild-mannered judge of character Ang Lee. No subject, no society is foreign to this director. The cowboys in the remote Midwest state of Wyoming in 1963 are staged by the Taiwanese-born New Yorker as if he had grown up with them. The great love of his two heroes (Ledger and Jake Gyllenhal), both of whom are heterosexually involved and lifelong fail to come out, is so natural to him that he makes no fuss at all about their homosexuality. At the same time, Lee unmistakably highlights their dilemma, which has to do with the circumstances of the time. An open confession to the other would be life-threatening, even the tacit confession makes the partners (Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway) massively compassionate. As before, it is recommended to keep a handkerchief handy.
Andreas FurlerGalleryo
