Second meeting after 4 years.

[squashcourt]

The scene where Heath very roughly removes Jake's hand from his neck (almost in disgust).  Ang Lee, in my opinion, should have redone this shot by having the hand removed with tenderness.  After 4 years of emptiness this should not have happened. A flaw in the movie. 
Can someone convince me otherwise?
It contradicts the melting of Ennis in Jack's arms in the second tent scene.

Pierre

[mvansand76]

I didn't see that as rough, I just saw it as Ennis needing to get back to reality and helping Jack get there too, because he realised very strongly at that moment that they were out in the open and that Ennis had to introduce Jack to Alma before they could continue somewhere more private.

And...... if it was rough, he made up for it with the so incredibly romantic and sweet nuzzle and the hand to Jack's cheek just before he goes up the stairs. 

[squashcourt]

You are right regarding the impeccable and romantic nuzzle and the hand to Jack's cheek.  No doubt about that.
Notice that I used "Heath" and not Ennis.  Perhaps this roughness may have had something to do with it. 
Please understand me, I am not tearing the scene apart.  The whole movie is a personal experience and it's gut-wrenching whenever I build up the courage to view it.

Pierre

[Jeff Wrangler]

The whole movie is a personal experience and it's gut-wrenching whenever I build up the courage to view it.

Friend, we all--or most of us--have been there. We understand.

I'm hoping/planning to make time to watch again this weekend. I can't say as I ever really noticed the gesture you're asking about, but I'll look for it the next time I watch.

[Katie77]

Maybe at that moment, Ennis thought, "if I dont stop this now, me and Jack are gonna fall to the ground, and end up making love out here in the street"

[mvansand76]

Maybe at that moment, Ennis thought, "if I dont stop this now, me and Jack are gonna fall to the ground, and end up making love out here in the street"

LOL... now that would have been quite a scene!

[nakymaton]

I wonder if Ang Lee deliberately used one of the takes that seemed a bit rougher - maybe to keep a sense of Ennis's inner conflict even in that scene, when Ennis seems as uninhibited as he ever does... well, except maybe when he's jumping naked off the cliff.

A friend of mine was looking for romantic screencaps for an otherwise un-BBM-related project, and asked for my help picking out something really romantic from BBM. We looked at the 2nd tent scene, and the reunion, and the Motel Siesta, but the only scene we could find where Ennis didn't look somehow conflicted (a wrinkled forehead, for instance) was the dozy embrace. (In the end, she decided that BBM was too tragic for her purposes, so she ended up using a different movie.)

[Kd5000]

I just thought it was so impulsive for Ennis to greet Jack with a big smooch.  It almost seemed out of his character.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that the reunion kiss took place. It was a welcome suprise, given how conflicted Ennis was about everything else .

However, no chit chat took place beforehand about what happened four years earlier. Well Ennis wasn't a talker, so I guess the reunion kiss was his way of expressing how much he missed Jack.  I suppose the chit chat took place in the motel room after they made love.  "Army didn't get ya?" 

[skye28]

This particular scene is my one of my favorites. the unbridled passion shown by Ennis says more than any dialogue ever could. Thats what makes this movie so great, so much of the story is told without words, a great  testament to the actors as well. I am going to watch again tonight, it will be my third time.

[Katie77]

Ive just watched the movie again for the "lost count" time, and as I always do, I replay that reunion kiss over and over and over again.....never get tired of watching it.......

It finally hit me today, what I think happened......the initial strong hug between the two, and during that hug, Ennis realized probably for the first time, that HE WAS GAY, and that he loved Jack, more than he had ever loved anyone else before, and it was that emotion that then made him kiss Jack so hard, like he couldnt get enough of him........then the look Jack gave Ennis, of realization too, like, "this bloke loves the hell out of me, I'll show him too, just how much I love him"...and turned him around and pressed his face and lips into Ennis's........

And later as Ennis, laid in Jacks arms at the motel, so comfortable, like it was where he belonged......

Yes, Ennis had no doubts, he was in the arms of the love of his life.......