The film is adapted from a short story published in "The New Yorker". Ang Lee is basically faithful to the original work, but it is much richer than the novel. The film is 134 minutes long and spans nearly 20 years. Ang Lee focused on the beginning and the end of their story. At the beginning, the film described the magnificent scenery of Wyoming's mountains, mountains, grasslands, forests, and sheep in large sections, creating a utopia for two 19-year-olds to escape the worries of real life. In the beauty of nature, two youthful hearts can get rid of all the shackles. From the initial gap between them, they gradually become confidantes. And everything happened so naturally, the cold night, the burning alcohol, the bodies of the two men warmed each other, and the passion finally burst out. This piece of green mountains and green water not only satisfies the audience's audiovisual, but also provides a pure and romantic environment for their stories. It seems that only in this landscape without a trace of modern civilization, two people can fully listen to the call of the soul.
In the setting of the two protagonists, Jack is obviously more active than ennis, but he has been suppressing himself, especially when the latter is taking a bath in the depth of field. Jack’s sensitive mouth and subtle expressions can tell him the bottom of his heart. The most ambiguous expression is just to pick up a scarf to wipe the blood from his forehead; but he never gives up, he comes first every time he has a party; it is he who proposes to live with ennis again and again. Compared with Jack's initiative and enthusiasm, Ennis has always been hesitant and withdrawn, it seems that the mental pressure he is carrying is a little heavier. But the strongest emotional expression was him. When the two broke up for the first time, he hid in the corner and sobbed; when they reunited, he pressed Jcak to the wall and kissed wildly; the quarrel by the lake made him cry uncontrollably. Lost his voice; until the end, he was alone in the world, silently enduring the suffering of his soul.
Here again we can see that Li Ang's consistent Eastern style is implicit. In the whole film, the moments are not necessary, the sensational depictions are not visible, and the emotions are under control. In Ang Lee's movie, we don't even see any outstanding skills, everything is so calm and steady. As the saying goes, listening to thunder in a silent place is a real demeanor of everyone.
Twelve years ago, Ang Lee's second movie "The Wedding Banquet" also told a story about homosexuality. Compared with "The Wedding Banquet"'s thinking about the cultural conflicts between the East and the West, "Brokeback Mountain" twelve years later, has got rid of the confusion of cultural identity, and has risen to the concern for the universal "love" of human beings.
Same-sex love, in fact, has existed since ancient times and has lasted for thousands of years in human society. From a purely physiological point of view, the phenomenon of homosexuality does not seem to conform to the laws of nature; however, who made the evolution of mankind has long been not just a natural phenomenon, but also psychological, social and other factors. To put it bluntly, it's nothing more than radish and cabbage, each with their own love; Li Yinhe also said that love is like people using left and right hands, most people like to use the right hand, but some people naturally like to use the left hand. The crux of the problem is that we cannot deprive the minority of the rights of the minority based solely on the preferences of the majority. All are human beings. As long as they are sincere feelings, they should be worthy of respect. What's more, Brokeback Mountain captures the feelings of two people so delicately and vividly.
From the movies, we can feel that Ang Lee did not regard homosexuality as a big deal. Compared with other gay movies, same-sex love is regarded as a boast and decoration, or to vent libido’s perversion. The behavior, the same-sex love in Brokeback Mountain, is pure like the snow in the Rocky Mountains. The feelings between the two protagonists are so hot and so natural.
I even think this is not a movie about homosexuality, it is a romance at all. The story tells nothing more than two people who love each other. They have to follow the laws of reality most of the time. They must get married, have children, and work hard for the family. Ang Lee let us know that they are actually the most ordinary people. Their lives are not much different from ours. Only the undercurrents in their hearts tell them where their true love is.
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