Brokeback Mountain by Garth Franklin

It may be breaking new ground in terms of how audiences react to it, but Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” is at once both an American classic western and a sweeping old fashion romance that will pull at the heart strings of all but the coldest people. With a delicate and respectful touch, Lee pulls off the tricky feat of expanding Annie Proulx's powerful short story in a scale and scope, all the while bringing more heart and realism to the table.

Proulx's story worked because it seemed to almost refuse to be political - and yet calling it a fantasy was too much of a stretch because the tale was written in a style that was very gritty, real and with utterly believable consequences. The result was a simple, powerful and universal fable of a beautiful but tragic love affair between two ordinary people in an unforgiving society - the fact that it’s between two men became only a minor detail more than anything else.

The strong story and masterful direction is only the start of the film's strengths. Performances are superb all across the board, each character is given time to shine and we explore their many facets. Jake Gyllenhaal finally shows us strong dramatic chops as the more emotionally driven, optimistic of the pair who must contend with the frustration of a love that's more withdrawn and restrained than he is.

Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway do great supporting work as the pair's wives - both very different characters who service the story in different ways yet each actress is always up to the task. The two are given short shrift in the original story but here are developed and add richness to both the plot and the two male characters on which we're focused.

The real showcase here though is Heath Ledger who underplays his role to perfection. He makes a physically imposing rough around the edges figure whom many would immediately write-off as a simpleton, and adds whole levels of complexity, vulnerability and depth throughout. His character, who spends most of the film looking slightly constipated and/or mumbling, ends up being the film's richest - a man struggling to deny who he is to both himself and everyone else, even as that secret destroys the happiness of both him and everyone around him. All these performances are very physical as well, with their tone and looks saying a lot more than their words - its a tricky act to pull off and some audience members may not read into it as much as others.

There's very careful attention to detail - as the characters age throughout the story there's a few convincing changes (for the most part) in make-up, hair, dress and lifestyle. All this is offset with the breathtaking visuals showing off the harshness of both low-income dusty American townships and the picturesque natural landscapes of the Rockies. Rodrigo Prieto's Oscar-caliber cinematography is off-set with a soulful low-key score of mostly simple guitar notes and twangs that seem so inherent to the western genre and yet add another dimension to the sense of soulful longing at the story's heart. Lee always wants to make sure this is seen as an emotional love story rather than a physical one so those audiences going to see it for 'man on man action', you'll be somewhat disappointed.

On the other side of the coin, the only thing homophobes will get squirmy over isn't what's shown but rather the mild implication that you're probably a closeted gay guy if you take your wife from behind more often than from the front. Great sweeping romance films are few and far between these days, even more rare are films made with such care and obvious affection. Sadly whilst it'll be dismissed as the 'gay cowboy' movie by many, they will miss out on what's one of the few times you'll ever see a film adaptation that's at least as good as, and in my opinion much better than, the acclaimed story its based on.

It doesn't matter what your orientation or relationship status in life is, 'Brokeback' is a tale of romance that's never properly expressed and doesn't come with a simple 'happily ever after' conclusion. At times it stretches its credibility or short changes a few things, which should've been explored, and it could've been a little shorter. Still, the more I look back on it the richer and more rewarding an experience it seems - how often can you say that about a film these days. - Garth Franklin