Roberta Maxwell, who played Jack Twist's mother in
Brokeback Mountain gave a short interview about her acting performance and her insights into her character. Some key points -
1) Jack's mother knew about Jack and realized the relationship between Ennis and Jack.
2) Jack's father represented the oppressive atmosphere Jack grew up in and was likely abusive to both Jack and his mother, leading Maxwell to play her role in such a reserved manner.
3) Jack's Pentecostal upbringing likely involved being dragged regularly to services by his mother, who was the true Christian in the family.
4) There was opposition and controversy by Albertans about the film and they all received some negative reactions from local residents who considered "cowboys" sacrosanct.
Also listen for trivia about how their scenes were shot and Ledger's involvement in the scene.
Obviously these are just actors providing insight into their parts and don't necessarily represent absolute truth, as these are fictional folks, but considering their closeness to the project, it does give a lot of insight.
http://www.heathledgercentral.com/media/roberta-maxwell-bbinterview2.mp3
