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nocturnalfrenzy · 10 months

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Is Brokeback Mountain a True Story?

Brokeback Mountain directed by Taiwanese director Ang Lee saw the theatres in the year 2005. Primarily, a romantic-drama set in old west theme introduces us to two American cowboys Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar; the story takes us through their terrain like lives after they meet in 1963 while working as sheep herders on pastures of Brokeback Mountain. The film keeping their relationship at its core threads various phases of Jack and Ennis lives as they ride ahead. The depiction of Homosexuals in a Homophobic society makes it first one of its kind.

Ang Lee won his first Academy Award as Best Director for this movie. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger gave two brilliant performances in their respective roles each demanding attention when on-screen, the cast also consisted names like Anne Hathaway, Michelle Willaims, David Harbour, Kate Mara.

Is Brokeback Mountain based on a true story?

The technically correct answer to this question would be a ‘NO’, the movie was adapted from a short story penned by Pulitzer fame American novelist Annie Proulx, the screenplay being written by Larry McMurty and Diana Ossana.

Fictionally the story is about these two characters and their love and journey of twenty years from 1963 to 1983 but it in actuality it’s the untold stories of all those Jack and Ennis that really existed in the fog of homophobic society.

In the early 1960s to late 1990s homosexuality was dangerous notion to have in U.S, several hate crimes that occurred in these times are the alibi of the aforementioned statement until 2003 when Lawrence vs Texas case brought a change in the laws. Jack and Ennis discover each other sexually, emotionally on Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming and keep seeing each other secretly in the name of fishing trips to hide from everyone. Duality in their lives makes the viewer a part of their journey since many of us live in duality, they prioritize responsibilities over love. Each of two leads get married to a woman but finding them in the want of each other’s company; the excitement in the body language and eyes of characters when they meet tells us all we need to know. Each of characters have different stands; Jack being more confident wants to have a life with Ennis divorcing his wife whereas Ennis even though divorced is afraid of the thorns of society they live in. In one scene Ennis says “If this things grabs hold of us again in wrong place, wrong time, then we are dead” all the while thinking about the thought process of his late homophobic father.

As the story rolls ahead both of them finds it difficult to maintain their dual lives showing the frustration and fits of rage in various altercations they have, both Jack and Ennis are distanced from their respective wives. Even through the tough times their love and emotional connection stays strong but they are not able live it to fullest. They live of the moments they spent together in Brokeback Mountain as Jack mentions aptly in a scene “All we have is Brokeback Mountain”. Since Brokeback Mountain stays as only standing proof of their relationship. The sexuality of the characters take a side seat while the film focuses on the mental struggle a homosexual person went through in those times.

The grounded and mature depiction of homosexual characters brings it more close to reality. In popular culture gay men are imagined of possessing flamboyant characteristics and being effeminate but in this film the characters don’t clad any of this colorful traits. So it seems Jack and Ennis could be anywhere or anyone hiding from the mindset of our social structure of this world we all belong to willingly or unwillingly. Once Ennis gets the knowledge about Jack’s death is taken aback and imagines him getting killed in the same way his father had described killing a homosexual person. This imagination of his brings forth the fear Ennis had in him throughout the story. The screenplay keeps the viewer guessing the validity of his imagination hence asking ourselves whether he died because of a hate crime or an accident, sadly the former option seeming more probable. In broader spectrum answering the big question that even though the film is fictional the building blocks are picked from reality of many homosexual men in those time periods.

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