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Brokeback Mountain's "heftiest emotional moment"

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chowhound:
In an interview with Michelle Williams in the April 3 issue of The Sunday Times (London), the writer has this to say about Brokeback Mountain:

"Her insistence on eye contact also gives the lie to the idea that she's a shrinking violet. And it's precisely this ability to suggest the delicate and the robust that lies at the heart of her finest work. Think of Brokeback Mountain where her mutely panicked reaction shot on witnessing her husband's infidelity with another man provided that movie with its heftiest emotional wallop."

It's a fine moment but for me it's not the scene with "the heftiest emotional wallop". If I can only pick one, I think it would be the reunion kiss, in part because we don't know how the reunion will go. We share with Heath his anxiety as he waits for Jack and we share with him his joy once he sees that Jack has actually arrived. From the point where he says "Jack f...ing Twist" to where he sweeps Jack up in his arms for the reunion kiss itself  provides for me the "movie's heftiest emotional wallop" but others may wish to lay claim to a different scene.

Front-Ranger:
The reunion kiss is definitely a heart-stopping moment, but for me the big wallop came when Ennis found the shirts and saw the blood stained sleeves folded into each other. As he crouched in the closet and embraced the shirts, all the memories of Jack and the years they could have had came flooding back. Pressing the cold iron hanger to his face where it made the indentation of a question mark into his cheek. His hands came together in a prayerful position surrounding the shirts, and the steel guitar gave a mournful lament.

serious crayons:
Yeah, that's a strange line in the article. It was a hefty emotional wallop, sure, but the movie's heftiEST? Not by a long shot. Especially since the wallop, as this writer sees it, seems to come mostly from the emotions that Alma's experiencing in that scene.

Um, it's fine to be sympathetic to the wronged wife -- understandable, even. But Alma's plight is not exactly the focus of the story, nor is she the character the one who endures the most or sharpest pain.

southendmd:
It's Alma's heftiest emotional wallop, but not the film's. 

For me, it's the totality of the Lake Scene, and how it segues into the Dozy Embrace.  Now THAT's a wallop.  Works for me every time, both on paper and on film.

Jeff Wrangler:

--- Quote from: southendmd on April 10, 2011, 06:17:54 pm ---It's Alma's heftiest emotional wallop, but not the film's. 

--- End quote ---

Good take on it, Paul. For Alma that experience must have felt like a kick in the stomach.

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