Jake on Brokeback - 'one of the last myths that has never been told'

You don't often expect a reporter at the Financial Times to open his heart and pen an emotional and personal tribute to a lost actor, but Heath Ledger's performance in Brokeback Mountain is an inspiration to many, including Harry Eyres. Thanks indeed to Winterbird for letting us know about this wonderful piece of writing, so clearly produced by a fellow brokie.


'Sometimes a premature passing hits you hard. So it was for me, and I guess many thousands of others, with the sudden death of the actor Heath Ledger at 28. I did not know Ledger and my acquaintance with his work was limited to a single screen performance but his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain was so moving, so astonishingly mature, that it seemed the start of one of the truly great movie acting careers.'


'Ennis is one of those people who, for all sorts of reasons, are opaque to themselves. This is what Heath Ledger so marvellously conveys, in his slow-burning, laconic performance: a man struggling over the course of a whole life to come to terms, not so much with his sexuality (I do not see this only as a gay film but more universally as a film about blocked love) as with his tremendous need for love and, ultimately, with his ability to give love. "He brought to the role of Ennis", said Ang Lee, "more than any of us could have imagined - a thirst for life, for love, and for truth, and a vulnerability that made everyone who knew him love him."'


'All is conveyed through the subtlest of gestures and changes of expression: the hand on the shoulder and the smile of kindness and comprehension on the face of Roberta Maxwell's Mrs Twist; Ennis's expression when he sees Jack's blood-stained jacket. Finally, you feel, Ennis's heart is well and truly broken. And the broken-hearted Ennis will no longer be violent and uncomprehending in the face of love.'

It seems right that Brokeback Mountain and Heath Ledger's performance are placed here in the context of Shakespeare - King Lear and sonnets - because this is the stuff that drives great drama - tragedy, passion, true love.


Inspired by this rich essay, I hope you won't mind if I post here another feature about Brokeback Mountain. Written in September 2005 at the Toronto Film Festival, the Cincinnati CityBeat article includes short interviews with both Jake Gyllenhaal and Ang Lee. Amongst some familiar words from Jake, the piece includes some words from him which belong very well with Harry Eyres' piece, but this time, they come from the other cowboy.

When Jake is asked if times have changed since the time in which Brokeback is set, he's not optimistic: '"If they (people) were ready for it, I don't think the film would be a great piece of artistic work," he says. "I think people often make movies that people are ready for, and these movies come and go. I don't think people are ready for it, and that's what makes it a great work of art... I look at this story as author Annie Proulx walking in the forest, and she comes and finds a book under a tree and discovers one of the last myths that has never been told. It's odd that it's never been told, but it hasn't."'


'"Challenging is not the right word for this movie... We all got caught in the idea of what love is supposed to be, and movies and books and stories all show love in a particular way. I know in my own life I have lived in the cliché of guy gets girl and guy loses girl and guy gets girl again. It has led to unhappiness in my life. This film says if the outside world wasn't there and no judgment or outside opinion about who you should love or can't love, would you still be loving the person that you love today? Or would you be making other choices in your life? And if you would bring the person you love to Brokeback Mountain, would you still love them? And if you do, it's true love."'


Includes pictures from IHJ.