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Brokeback Mountain - Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Anne Hathaway, Ang Lee

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Love is a force of nature.

From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee comes an epic American love story, based on the short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx and adapted for the screen by the team of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. Set against the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas, the film tells the story of two young men - a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy - who meet in the summer of 1963, and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love.

Early one morning in Signal, Wyoming USA, Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) meet while lining up for employment with local rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid). The world which Ennis and jack have been born into is at once changing rapidly and yet scarcely evolving. Both young men seem certain of their set places in the heartland - obtaining steady work, marrying and raising a family - and yet hunger for something beyond what they can articulate. When Aguirre dispatches them to work as shepherds up on the majestic Brokeback Mountain, they gravitate towards camaraderie and then a deeper intimacy.

At summer's end, the two must come down from Brokeback and part ways. Remaining in Wyoming, Ennis weds his sweetheart Alma (Michelle Williams), with whom he will have two daughters as he ekes out a living. Jack, in Texas, catches the eye of a rodeo queen Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). Their courtship and marriage result in a son, as well as jobs in her father's business.

Four years pass. One day, Alma brings Ennis a postcard from Jack, who is en route 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. In the years that follow, Ennis and Jack struggle to keep their secret bond alive. They meet up several times annually. 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.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Brokeback Mountain image

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

  • Film drama romance gay cowboy sex homosexual relationship true love homophobia marriage Wyoming horse

Persons of interest

  • Jake Gyllenhaal .... Jack Twist
  • Heath Ledger .... Ennis Del Mar
  • Michelle Williams .... Alma Beers Del Mar
  • Anne Hathaway .... Lureen Newsome
  • Randy Quaid .... Joe Aguirre
  • Linda Cardellini .... Cassie
  • Anna Faris .... Jemima
  • Scott Michael Campbell .... Monroe
  • Kate Mara .... Alma Del Mar Junior
  • Cheyenne Hill .... Alma Del Mar Junior (age 13)
  • Hannah Stewart .... Alma Del Mar Junior (age 3)
  • Brooklynn Proulx .... Jenny Del Mar (age 4)
  • Tom Carey .... Jimbo the Rodeo Clown
  • Graham Beckel .... LD Newsome
  • Mary Liboiron .... Fayette Newsome
  • E Annie Proulx .... Author
  • Larry McMurtry .... Screenwriter
  • Diana Ossana .... Screenwriter
  • Ang Lee .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Brokeback Mountain is an awful film. I hated it from start to finish.

The only thing worse than watching some character in a movie ruin their life by refusing to be happy is realising you are the character in your life who ruined that life by refusing to be happy. As it turns out, I am a distinguished, life member of the Ennis del Mar Award for Stupidity in Making the Wrong Choice Between a Life-time of Happiness With Your Truelove™ or Anything Else Society. As such, I am supremely positioned to advise you on the verisimilitude of this film and lemme tell ya, a cowboy's life is not a happy one.

If you find your Truelove™ then don't let anything stand between you and them. Not their gender, not their genitals, not their job, not their background, not their citizenship, not their political philosophy, not their appearance, not the fact that they're even more scared of telling you that you're their Truelove™ than you are that they're yours. Grab them and don't let them go (unless they hit you, then you walk away and leave them for your next lifetime). Trust me on this.

Next, I really liked Heath Ledger's performance and accent: both are pulled way down deep into his guts, the place where Ennis del Mar lives. He's the strong, silent type (just like me), a gentle giant (just like me) who attracts people with his sense of stability (just like me). Still waters run deep, if you can handle one more cliché. Jake Gyllenhaal could hardly be more different - Jack Twist is passionate, verbose (by comparison), he wears his heart on his sleeve for all the world to trample. Ennis and Jack are like a rock in a turbulent mountain stream (you can pursue the imagery for yourself - you know you want to!).

Brokeback Mountain is a good film: well-made, dramatic, emotional, intense, deeply personal. Congratulations to Ang Lee, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal on all the plaudits they've received - they deserve it.

Three more things:

  1. If you believe that there's no such thing as a gay cowboy then check out the International Gay Rodeo Association.
  2. Not every gay man goes to Mardi Gras.
  3. There's some nice scenery in Wyoming.

Security censorship classification

M (Moderate coarse language, moderate sex scenes, moderate violence)

Surveillance time

134 minutes (2:14 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

Film: 26 January 2006

Cinema surveillance images

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