Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain, Film as Theological Text

Cinematographically the footage in this film is stunning. Watching it I can smell the scent of the trees and wild lavender. Smell is such an extraordinary sense, and it is deeply connected to memories. I noticed how deeply Ennis missed Jack by the way he held Jack’s shirt, the way he held the shirt and embraced it also references back to the intimacy the two shared. I underestimated how moving this film is to experience, it’s powerful and speaks to so many levels of limits placed on the emotional lives of men. It was at great risk that Ennis left Jack’s parent’s home with the shirts from Jack’s closet. It may have been the first realization Ennis experienced of Jack’s unending love. The two are so tightly constrained by the expectations of social attitudes that their relationship can barely breathe life, ultimately the forces that constrain them takes the life of Jack. Fortunately for Ennis, Jack’s Mom quietly acknowledges the significance of Ennis’s feelings and assists him in retrieving the two shirts from Jack’s closet going undetected by Jack’s father. This gesture could also be seen to act metaphorically representing Ennis's "coming-out" to himself about his feelings and his sexuality.  My favorite part of the film is that after Jack’s death, Ennis has switched the two shirts so as to convey now he is the one that will never be able to “quit” this love, a love for Jack. This is the only expression of Ennis’ love for Jack, and for the little words Ennis speaks throughout the movie the gesture reveals the deepness of his love and loss.