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.