Brokeback Mountain (part 3)

I also think it's interesting how the two women in their lives became bitter, but handled it in different ways. Lureen kind of threw herself into her job & her hair (what awful hair!) but stayed married to Jack. Alma stewed & stewed & got a divorce, and still wouldn't drop the issue. Telling Ennis he should get married again, and then telling him she knew Jack wasn't a fishing buddy. What did she think she was going to accomplish? That by shaming him, she could fix him? It scared me though, his temper. I was afraid he'd really hurt her. I didn't want him to hurt her, but most of me was unsympathetic toward her in that situation. I know she felt that he had wronged her, but she couldn't step outside herself & see how he had tried to do what he thought was best, and denied himself in the process. He had wronged himself & Jack all those years; and whatever she had been through was nothing in comparison.

I was so glad for Ennis' sake at the end, when he decides that he'll go to his daughter's wedding instead of the round up. F* that job! That job and trying to "keep up appearances" are what kept him from Jack for 20 years. He decided to finally live a little and let himself be human, and perhaps find comfort in the other people he loved. It's such a shame Jack had to die before Ennis could learn that lesson, but at least he was learning it.

One thing I really appreciated, on a stylistic level, was the physicality, and how they aged. They weren't even 40 yet when Jack died, so they were hardly old. But they were used up by the land & riding, and their struggle, and the way they looked was accurate; they looked older & very tired, worn out. When Jack yells at Ennis the last time they see each other... the physicality of that scene is great. The way Jack walks away, standing w/ his back to Ennis; the way he holds his body; the way he's talking but w/ his back still turned. There's so much emotion in that pose. And Ennis' body, as well, responding to that. Like a wild caged animal, but at the same like a small puppy aching for love & a kind touch. When he starts crying, and Jack holds him... there are no words. And much earlier, when they part after that summer on Brokeback, and Ennis is doubled over in pain, throwing up from the ache of leaving. At least that's what I assumed it was. It was incredible. Ang Lee really knew what he was doing; he got so much out of those people.

I don't know... there's so much that I'm feeling and still can't articulate. I listened to part of an interview w/ Ang Lee about the kissing scene (where Alma saw them). He said they had to do it about 7 times from one angle, then about 6 or 7 from the other. Then they had to do Alma's reaction shots about 6 or 8 times, and she asked them to keep kissing so she had something real to react to, instead of them just standing around. Ang Lee said the men were so emotionally & psychologically exhausted after a while that he had to call a halt to filming that scene and let everyone take a break. He said that Jake blew him away with his emotional awareness, how much of himself he put into Jack. He said the sets were so intimate, that he felt he could really see into their souls. What an incredible experience.