Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama directed by Ang Lee and adapted by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana from Annie Proulx’s 1997 short story. The screenplay follows Ennis Del Mar, played by Heath Ledger, and Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, Wyoming ranch hands who meet in 1963 after being hired by rancher Joe Aguirre to herd sheep on Brokeback Mountain. Their isolated summer work develops into a sexual and emotional relationship that neither man can comfortably name within the social expectations surrounding them. After the mountain summer, the film tracks nearly two decades of separations, reunions, marriages, and disappointments. Ennis marries Alma Beers, portrayed by Michelle Williams, and they have two daughters; Jack marries Lureen Newsome, portrayed by Anne Hathaway, whose father runs a farm equipment business. Jack repeatedly proposes that he and Ennis establish a ranch together, but Ennis, shaped by childhood memories of anti gay violence and fear of discovery, refuses. Their periodic fishing trips become the practical excuse for continuing a bond hidden from families and employers. The production was filmed primarily in Alberta, Canada, including locations near Calgary and in the Canadian Rockies, although its story is set in Wyoming and Texas. Rodrigo Prieto served as cinematographer, Gustavo Santaolalla composed the score, and the film was edited by Dylan Tichenor and Geraldine Peroni. Focus Features released it in the United States on December 9, 2005. Its restrained performances, landscape imagery, and recurring guitar based music helped make the film a major critical and cultural event during its awards season. At the 78th Academy Awards, Brokeback Mountain received eight nominations and won three: Best Director for Lee, Best Adapted Screenplay for McMurtry and Ossana, and Best Original Score for Santaolalla. It was nominated for Best Picture, but Crash won that award. Ledger and Gyllenhaal received nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, while Williams was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. The film also won four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture Drama and Best Director. In 2018, the Library of Congress selected Brokeback Mountain for the National Film Registry, judging it culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Its title refers to the fictional mountain where Ennis and Jack first work together. Proulx’s original story appeared in The New Yorker before being collected in Close Range: Wyoming Stories, a volume first published in 1999. The film’s ending shows Ennis quietly preserving Jack’s shirts at home.