Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

It's January - Time to Watch It Again

(1/3) > >>

Phillip Dampier:
Brokeback Mountain has been running on HBO again and I caught a good part of it last night once again.  On January 25th, 2006 I saw the movie for the first time, and with this being January, it's actually kind of amazing I am pondering this movie yet again.  The further out you get from it, the more seasoned perspective you start to develop - and some new thoughts popped into my head about why the film made such an enormous impact on me:

1) Timing: The only good thing about the northern hemisphere and winter seems to be the busy holiday season.  It's dark here by 5pm, it's frighteningly cold, and the endless snows just keep you indoors.  The Christmas season and the lights and the memories that evokes are a distant memory by mid-January.  The tree has come down, the lights are put away, and then you realize you have three months to wait out winter.  Seeing Brokeback at this time of year was going to be a provocation for me emotionally anyway, just because everything you see is so green.  Even the cold scenes don't look so bad when you are surrounded by a forest of Lodgepole Pines.  Here in western NY, everything is plain snow white and the trees are totally empty, with the exception of the evergreens and pines here and there.

2) Memories: So many parts of the film include references and objects taken from times long since passed.  I wasn't alive in 1963, but a lot of the objects and props from the film are things I have seen and touched before.  The old fashioned coffee pots and cups, the console television that serves a dual function of being a piece of furniture and the center of the living room at Monroe's house (and that amazing electric carving knife - my grandparents had one - it was a staple in a lot of 70s houses), and the rest of the furnishings.  Now even though I was a kid, the fact I could relate to those things provided more depth and let the reality of the story penetrate more deeply.

3) The Reality: While flipping channels, I came in last night after the summer on Brokeback, at which point the film really became more of a "soap opera" drama.  The struggles between Alma and Ennis, the MINO (Marriage In Name Only) of Jack and Lureen, and the fact both of these couples were essentially on autopilot reminded me that the only REAL passion was between Jack and Ennis.  Heck, you could just sense where their minds really were when they were passionate with their wives.  And with distance, I think I've gotten more pessimistic about the untimely death of Jack.  The more I watch Lureen recite, with what I now sense is a long-practiced excuse-o-matic tale about how Jack died, the more I start to think Jack was bashed to death.  I keep peeling away layers of Lureen, once you get the loud hair out of the way, and keep coming away sensing a cross between inner-anger and embarrassment about Jack's death.  Her lips pursed, her tone controlled, and the way she just slaps that Princess phone down at the end of the call.  I probably wasn't as willing to admit this sensation two years ago, but it seems to be there now.  There is just something wrong about the way she tells the story, and the fact it seems oddly implausible - like some made up excuse to cover up for something else.  And she just seems to be seething when she isn't upset. Now that seething could be because she can't believe Jack would be so stupid as to die this way, or seething that she found out her marriage was a sham.

I was also noticing John Twist's tale of Jack bringing that OTHER MAN from Texas up to Lightning Flat, and wondered if that was Jack resigning himself to Ennis never following through or if that was just another man in Jack's life to serve as a surrogate for Ennis.  What I was trying to watch for this time was any reaction from Ennis to that reality, and the only thing I recall picking up from it was a sort of subtle straightening up by Ennis in the chair, as if in response to a bit of bad news you weren't expecting.

One thing my friends who actually lived in Wyoming, and know Riverton and the entire Wind River Basin very well have said to me is the one thing not so real about the film was the scenery.  "It's too green.  Wyoming is much more brown," was the reaction.  It seems Wyoming is much drier than the movie would let on.  But most of the rest was pretty dead on, especially the isolation that living in Wyoming often affords.  Ennis alone is a small trailer and Ennis alone in Wyoming seemed to be pretty much the same thing.  But the wide open spaces do remind you on one thing - just how small one's own suburban yard is in the scheme of things.

4) The uniqueness: In three years since BBM, it remains an extraordinarily unique film.  My physical therapist, a married conservative guy, casually mentioned he was planning to see the film because he was moved by Heath's performance in The Dark Knight and wanted to see the other critically acclaimed film Ledger really delivered.  Most of the straight guys I know who've seen it have not come away as moved as so many of us.  A lot of them had a difficult time with the limited romantic scenes, but even more, found the length and drama ponderous.  Yes, there are no car chases in this movie, and all is not sweetness and light.  A few have never managed to get through it at all.  It will be interesting to learn his reaction after seeing it.

chowhound:
Thanks, Phillip, for your thoughtful reminiscences. I live slightly North of you - in Toronto - so easily sympathize with your remarks about the bleakness of winter and the three months of waiting. Today, with the wind chill, it's a bone chilling -27. That's Celsius, of course, not Fahrenheit!

As you well may know, Brokeback wasn't shot in Wyoming but in Alberta between late May and the middle of August. So what you are seeing are the Canadian Rockies in the summer, not Wyoming at various times during the year. 

However, if you'd like to see what the various Wyoming sites look like today, go to FindingBrokeback where a whole series of photos have been posted of Riverton etc. Maybe it's a site you already know about but, if not, it's well worth checking out.

Katie77:
Yes I have no doubt that Heath's movies will be inundating our TV screens here in Australia, on or around the 22nd January.

Not that I'm complaining, because my hope is that with all the publicity of awards and such lately, that more people, might sit down and watch Brokeback Mountain. Those that had passed it off as a "gay cowboy movie" might sit down and take it in, and not only see the genius of Heath's acting ability, but also understand the meaning of the film for what it is really saying.

Kelda:
thanks for the timely reminder Phillip.

retropian:
I too watched it again, in December, the 3rd anniversary of when I 1st saw it. It is amazing to me that I'm still interested in discussing this film. No other movie has ever affected me this way, and I'm glad I'm not alone in this.
a couple of thing in you post reminded me of some thought I had.

"The more I watch Lureen recite, with what I now sense is a long-practiced excuse-o-matic tale about how Jack died, the more I start to think Jack was bashed to death.  I keep peeling away layers of Lureen, once you get the loud hair out of the way, and keep coming away sensing a cross between inner-anger and embarrassment about Jack's death.  Her lips pursed, her tone controlled, and the way she just slaps that Princess phone down at the end of the call.  I probably wasn't as willing to admit this sensation two years ago, but it seems to be there now.  There is just something wrong about the way she tells the story, and the fact it seems oddly implausible - like some made up excuse to cover up for something else.  And she just seems to be seething when she isn't upset. Now that seething could be because she can't believe Jack would be so stupid as to die this way, or seething that she found out her marriage was a sham.

I was also noticing John Twist's tale of Jack bringing that OTHER MAN from Texas up to Lightning Flat, and wondered if that was Jack resigning himself to Ennis never following through or if that was just another man in Jack's life to serve as a surrogate for Ennis.  What I was trying to watch for this time was any reaction from Ennis to that reality, and the only thing I recall picking up from it was a sort of subtle straightening up by Ennis in the chair, as if in response to a bit of bad news you weren't expecting".

I've come to the same conclusion, that Lureen was lying. She was reciting a story made up to cover the truth. The reason I think this are those little intakes of breath as she tries to squelch her feelings. She may not have been sure even after Jacks death of his sexuality, but Ennis confirms it for her. She realised Ennis was Jacks lover and that he preceded her in her husbands affections. She realised that Jack probably never really loved her. So she got confirmation that her husband was gay, carried on a 20 year affair with another man (who was probably his true love) and therefore her marriage was a sham. She has a right to be angry. I think she still loved him in a way, so she's grieving for him, grieving that she never really knew him, grieving that she was never truly loved by him, and angry about it too. she probably had no one to talk too about it either. That's hard.

As far as Randall goes. I was wondering how much Jack loved him? Was Jack ready to leave Ennis because he wasn't getting what he needed? Was Randall really prepared to leave his wife for Jack and move to Lightening Flat? Everybody seems to think Randall was just a substitute for Ennis, but what if he really was more. How might Jack have responded to someone who might have professed his love... verbally! What if Jack really had fallen for another guy who gave him what Ennis could not? Why would he talk to his parents about Randall leaving his wife and moving to the ranch? Just because he's settling? Jack doesn't settle for beans, and maybe Ennis was becoming beans.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page