God, I love this movie. If you haven't had the absolute pleasure of watching Brokeback Mountain, you really should. I think that this movie is quite beautiful and tragic at the same time.
As I often say, "I like movies that make my want to rip my heart out and throw it on hot asphalt because that would hurt less."
Other things have caused me to say this (mostly the end of Good Omens, season two) but many of those examples aren't this specific type of good to the point I'm jealous I didn't write them. Brokeback Mountain takes place over the course of years, as Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist meet one another while living on a mountain to herd and care for the sheep that are kept there. They soon end up developing an interest in one another, but this is an issue because the year is 1963 and very unfortunately, many people living in this time period were raised with hate. Especially towards queer people and relationships.
This movie depicts the pain, the happiness, the complicated parts, everything that two people in love during this time period likely experienced. Time goes on through the movie, with Ennis and Jack meeting up when they can, though they are both married with children and live in different parts of the country.
Ennis very clearly deals with internalized homophobia, as well as some anger issues. He's unhappy in his marriage, but obviously cannot be with Jack.
"I wish I knew how to quit you."
The previous quote comes from a scene in the film towards the end of the movie. Years have passed since Jack and Ennis first met and the two argue. Jack wanted to have a life with Ennis, but because of the normalized discrimination of the time period, they cannot. This, combined with both of them being married (and, of course, infidelity is very wrong) leads to its own set of problems.
I wish I could do this film justice in the course of this chapter. I wish I could put into words how much I love this film and how beautiful I find it. Not because the characters are perfect, because they most definitely are not, but because of the feeling it exudes. I recommend this movie to anybody who I talk about movies with.
Now divorced, Ennis sends Jack a postcard in an effort to reconnect with him, but it is send back with the word DECEASED stamped over it in a red, block font. Ennis calls Jack's phone number and speaks with Anne Hathaway's character, Lureen, who is Jack's wife.
Much earlier in the film, while Jack and Ennis are still on Brokeback, Ennis recounts a memory from his childhood. When he was a small child, a man who lived near where he grew up was found out to be a closet homosexual, and was in turn beaten to death with a tire iron. Ennis' father took him to see the body of the man and Ennis never forgot that experience.
Lureen told Ennis that Jack had died in a tire changing accident, that the tire had exploded and he'd been killed. The flashback scene that is shown during this conversation, though, implies that Jack was actually beaten to death in similar fashion to the man in Ennis' story. Lureen tells Ennis that Jack always said he wanted his ashes spread on Brokeback Mountain, and that it was his favorite place.
Much of this movie I did not include in this chapter. And once again, I know I cannot do this film justice through a few paragraphs worth of writing. This movie just gives off such a feeling that I fully admit, I am jealous I did not write it. It really is a sad film, but a great one all the same.
