Love Brooded Over The Wild Fires Of Brokeback Mountain

Tragic love stories have always made for powerful films, especially when external forces stand in the way of true love. In the classic “Casablanca,’ it takes the entire world at war to keep Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman apart. With “Brokeback Mountain’ (2005), director Ang Lee creates a backdrop of unforgiving circumstances that stands in the way of true love. In the summer of 1963, two teen cowboys sign up for sheepherder work in the harsh Wyoming grasslands. Painfully quiet Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) usually works as a ranch hand, but needs extra money for his wedding to Alma (Michelle Williams). Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) wants to be a rodeo performer, but needs some money to supplement his meager winnings. At first, their opposite temperaments keep them from even talking as they share meals around the campfire. Until one bitterly cold night, they let the dogs watch the sheep, share a bottle of bourbon and drunkenly sleep together. Though the next morning they both emphatically state they are not gay, their bond lasts a lifetime. Ennis does marry Alma and they have two children. Jack tours with the rodeo and meets Lureen (Anne Hathaway), they marry and thrive financially working in her father-s machinery business. In spite of their marriages, the men seem to only truly find themselves in each other. In this Academy Award winning film, their tragic story speaks beyond the homosexual element to the universal theme of love-s unexpected and forbidden nature.