Brokeback Mountain

How this film uses it

Brokeback Mountain is the only place in the film where Ennis and Jack are fully themselves. It holds the only freedom they ever have. Each time the mountain comes back over the 20 years, you can measure everything they have lost.

Where to see it

The final scene. In his trailer, Ennis stands before a postcard of Brokeback Mountain tacked to his closet door beside Jack's shirt. The mountain survives only as a picture, and the men who loved each other on it are gone.

How this film uses it

Ang Lee and composer Gustavo Santaolalla hold the music back. The sparse guitar score goes silent at the moments of greatest emotional weight. You have to sit with the characters in the silence of what they cannot say.

Where to see it

Ennis collapsing against the wall after Jack drives away the first time. The music and the dialogue both drop out. His body shows what he has no words for.

How this film uses it

Lee never explains the homophobia Ennis has turned on himself, and he never fully shows you Ennis's inner life. The film puts a lot of trust in Ledger's physical performance and in the landscape. Dialogue would only make those moments smaller.

Where to see it

Ennis in Jack's old bedroom at his parents' house. The camera holds on Ledger's face as he weeps holding Jack's shirt. The scene is complete without a word.

How this film uses it

Rodrigo Prieto's photography gives the mountain sequences warm, rich color. The valley scenes of ordinary married life get steadily cooler and more washed out. The change in color shows the gap between the life lived and the life wanted.

Where to see it

The summer mountain sequences against Ennis's lonely trailer at the end. You see the same man in warm color and in cold color, and they are 2 different existences.