Brokeback Mountain

From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain, set within the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas, tells the story of a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy who unexpectedly forged a lifelong connection whose complications, joys, and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love. The film is based on the short story by Pulitzer Prizewinning author Annie Proulx and adapted for the screen by the team of Pulitzer Prizewinning author Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.

Early one morning in Signal, Wyoming, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) meet for the first time while in a work line for employment with local rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid). At this time both men seem to know their path in life, to get steady work, marry, and raise a family, yet, both seem to wish 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 that turns into a deeper intimacy.

At summer’s end, the two must come down from Brokeback Mountain and go their separate ways to their traditional lives. Ennis stays in Wyoming to make his living and marries his sweetheart Alma (Michelle Williams), eventually having two daughters. Jack goes to Texas courts and marries rodeo queen Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway), and starts his family with their new son and jobs in Lureen’s father’s business.

The two men live their lives separately for four years pass until, one day, Alma brings Ennis a postcard from Jack, who is going to be coming back 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. They begin an intimate life in secret and, in the years that follow, Ennis and Jack struggle to keep their secret bond alive. They meet up several times annually but, 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.