To begin with, almost every film created with a hint of homosexuality in its plot has stirred up the emotions of critiques and audiences alike. It seems that after all, people still does not have the open-mindedness to issues such as that. The same is true with Brokeback Mountain, which happens to be the much talked about Academy Award winning film of the year.

The beginning of the film is of course a testimony to the unique style of its creator. Ang Lee is known for his ability to actually bring his audience into the inner depths of the film. He does this by placing their minds in a dreamlike sensation that anticipates what is to come next. The same is true for his other film Crouching Tiger. The setting and cinematography are superbly done. Thus, the audience knows how it feels like to be caught during stage plays. The lack of communication between the two lead characters only depicts what is real and natural. The whole scene is not painted with effects, lines, and aesthetics that are conventional for most of the movies these days. To most audiences however, time seems to be moving too slow during the first half of the story.

The scene that welcomes the eyes of the audience, do not seem at all to be theatrical in nature. Basically, this is true for the whole story itself, but they do communicate a taint of artistic play. Everything seems to be a prologue to some other profound story plot that only surfaces as a suggestion which would only later be depicted. Two strangers meet for the first time, each apprehensive about the other another thing that is natural. They both seem to be caught between the pressures of having to find a job, together with the fact that they do not think highly of the nature of the work that they are getting into.

A retelling of Annie Proulx short story, follows the life of Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), two cowboys who lived a simple and uninteresting life. The two met first and got acquainted when they were applying for job as sheepherders for Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid).

A great part of the story was built upon the experience of the two characters up the hills of Brokeback Mountain. Herding sheep, managing a camp site, hunting food, and drinking alcohol were all that they were doing. The life that they had seemed almost to be perfect. What more could a rancher ask for really? Some think of this scene as lacking in development, but it is absolutely essential for the foundation of the story to take place. During the time spent up the mountains, it was clearly spelling out the development of the relationship of the two.

The personalities of Jack and Ennis were clearly set in place by Ang Lee. Ennis was the quiet type, repressed and displaying, the macho image of a rancher. On the other hand, Jack was the extroverted and outgoing cowboy. It could be clearly noticed that he is the type who says what he means and expresses what he feels.

As time passes by, the development of the story progresses into a kind of friendship that mingles around the youth of children. Everything seems to become all play, an enjoyable time for them alone and left with all the beauty of nature.

Everything changes when both became too drunk and take on each other's personal space. The ability of the story to be able to hide the feelings of the characters was remarkable. It was not entirely evident that it was a story about a gay couple until the (unfortunately) much awaited scene. Jack was the first one to initiate what was to be the start of a life long love. Unfortunately, this kind of love had to be hidden away from everybody else. However, it was also apparent that the mutuality of the feelings was present, although kept away by the personal distance between the two of them. Regret was quick to set in, not knowing that longing for happiness and companionship was to follow years after.

After ending their contract for the job, both characters set off to live their own lives. The film did not really contain much more substance towards the end of the story as regards its plot. Everything was clearly established when the two met again, each finding out about the development in each other's lives. Although the scene that was supposed to be the one to unite and fuse together all the other elements of the story was quite ecstatic, it seems as if the makers of the film forgot that these were two men who loved each other. It was a relationship that is in a totally different dimension from a heterogeneous commitment. The uniting kiss, and how it was portrayed, was more appropriate for a kissing scene between a man and a woman.

What the film really deals about is how Jack and Ennis never anticipated how their experience together in Brokeback Mountain would completely fill their lives with all the necessary emotional ingredients. Friendship, companionship, love, excitement, and adventure were all that they were actually holding on to. And what completes this all is the struggle that they would have to endure in order for them to consummate what could be called love. All these issues occurred in a time when prejudice and ignorance clouded the minds of people to such situations.

For most people who look into a movie's story, and expects exactly that, Brokeback Mountain would definitely be a film that would redefine their definition of a love story something that has become a status quo in the film industry, wherein nothing really changes except the actors and the setting. However, the movie is not of course, without a flaw.

One of the elements in the films direction that did not satisfy most of the critiques criterion was how the passing of time was not able to be clearly emphasized. The character's appearance did not age at all. Hopeless efforts to make them convey that a long time has passed in the story was very obvious.

But taking them altogether, the inevitable flaws that any film would have was clearly undermined by the story Brokeback Mountain holds. Although the ending of the story was quite tragic and painful, it only brings back the whole essence of the beginning of the story. It's circular towards the end, which makes it even more marvelous. The ending's style of bringing back the previous scenes in the mountain inside the audiences memory, how everything evolved throughout the story, definitely leaves the audience with the same excitement and anticipation, up until the credits rise.