| Gay & Lesbian Movies: Brokeback Mountain
From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee comes an epic
American love story, Brokeback Mountain, the winner of the Golden
Lion Award for Best Picture at this year's Venice International
Film Festival. The film is based on the short story by Pulitzer
Prize-winning author Annie Proulx and adapted for the screen by
the team of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry and Diana
Ossana. Set against the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas, the
film tells the story of two young men -- a ranch-hand and a rodeo
cowboy -- who meet in the summer of 1963, and unexpectedly forge a
lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys, and tragedies
provide a testament to the endurance and power of love.
Early one morning in Signal, Wyoming, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger)
and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) meet while lining up for
employment with local rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid). The world
which Ennis and Jack have been born into is at once changing
rapidly and yet scarcely evolving. Both young men seem certain of
their set places in the heartland – obtaining steady work,
marrying, and raising a family – and yet hunger for something
beyond what they can articulate. When Aguirre dispatches them to
work as sheepherders up on the majestic Brokeback Mountain, they
gravitate towards camaraderie and then a deeper intimacy.
At summer's end, the two must come down from Brokeback and part
ways. Remaining in Wyoming, Ennis weds his sweetheart Alma
(Michelle Williams), with whom he will have two daughters as he
ekes out a living. Jack, in Texas, catches the eye of rodeo queen
Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). Their courtship and marriage
result in a son, as well as jobs in her father's business.
Four years pass. One day, Alma brings Ennis a postcard from Jack,
who is en route to visit Wyoming. Ennis waits expectantly for his
friend, and when Jack at last arrives, in just one moment it is
clear that the passage of time has only strengthened the men's
attachment. In the years that follow, Ennis and Jack struggle to
keep their secret bond alive. They meet up several times annually.
Even when they are apart, they face the eternal questions of
fidelity, commitment, and trust. Ultimately, the one constant in
their lives is a force of nature – love.
Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Linda Cardellini, Anna
Faris, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, and Randy Quaid.
Where to find out more:
brokebackmountain.com
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