Getting Ready For The Academy Awards;

First Stop, ‘Brokeback Mountain’

Throughout the latter part of 2005 Hollywood chanted various forms of its “sky is falling” mantra regarding declining box office numbers, both in dollars and attendance. Some blamed this drop on the quality (or lack thereof) of the films themselves, while others placed fault on the rising improvement of home entertainment systems and how they’re keeping folks at home.

Yet, no matter how dire their words and predictions, almost every pundit ended their statement with a refrain of “but there’s always next year.”

Well, we’re more than a month into 2006 and some of the top films thus far have been Hostel, Underworld: Evolution, Big Mamma’s House 2, When a Stranger Calls.

Yikes! Instead of trying to tackle any of these less-than-stellar entries, I’ll spend the next month examining some of last year’s most critically touted films, leading up to the 78th annual Academy Awards on March 5. I’ll start with a look at Brokeback Mountain, probably the most talked-about film of the bunch, as well as the leading contender with eight Oscar nominations.

Based on an award-winning short story by Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain is a tale of two ranch hands — Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) — who meet when they’re sent to wrangle sheep on a Wyoming mountainside in 1963.

Over the course of several months in virtual isolation, the two develop an easy routine as one sleeps near the flock to keep coyotes away and the other keeps an eye on their main camp. But one night, when it’s too cold for either one to sleep outside, they share the same tent and very quickly much more than that. What begins as a very rough embrace turns into a shockingly intense sex scene.

The next morning, Ennis maintains their encounter was a “one-time thing,” but neither one truly believes it. The film then follows their lives over the next two decades after they go their separate ways.

Each enters into a seemingly ordinary marriage, complete with long-suffering wives (played by Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway) and doting children, but they reunite over the years for secret trysts (masquerading as fishing trips) which put not only their family lives in jeopardy, but perhaps even their own well-being.

Brokeback Mountain, which is directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Hulk, and more), is a film I desperately wanted to like. Admittedly, a large part of that desire was based on the fact that if I didn’t like it, I felt that the quickest negation of my position would be a response of, “We’ll you’re just uncomfortable with the subject matter!”

But the truth of it is the film made me uneasy much in the same way as The English Patient and The Bridges of Madison County made me uneasy. What do those films have in common with this one? They all revolve around relationships meant to tug at our heartstrings and make us feel for two lovers who are trapped in a doomed situation, whether that scenario be a loveless marriage, a dismissive husband or a homosexual union scoffed at by society.

But in each and every case, instead of a connection with these ill-fated lovers, I felt only an attachment to the painful consequences of their circumstances. Brokeback Mountain features outstanding performances, especially by the Oscar-nominated Ledger, Gyllenhaal and Williams, and it is certainly an interesting character study, but it failed to generate much sympathy from me because I didn’t feel I came to really understand the individuals in the film.

Many of the relationships, including the central one between Ennis and Jack, seemed to be founded on aggression (both physical and emotional), and though the adapted screenplay (by western veteran Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana) garnered a nomination, it seemed that, as written, almost every move by the two cowboys could have been dismissed on some level as being disingenuous. For instance, their first night together follows an evening full of extreme drinking. Now, certainly one could say that the intoxication only lowered their inhibitions — inhibitions established by society, not their own counsels. But certainly one could argue the other way and thus try to negate all that follows.

Brokeback Mountain, rated R for sexuality, nudity, subject matter, language and some violence, is a film that has already gotten people talking. It boasts some very strong performances and a few poignant moments, but based on its growing reputation, I expected more.