FILM
Brokeback Mountain: A Gift of Superb Acting
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This past Christmas I received a profound gift. Call me obsessive, but I have seen the movie Brokeback Mountain six times already. It is haunting me like no other movie I can remember. The writing, direction, technical aspects and, of course, performances are superlative. In particular, as an actor myself, I want to applaud Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal for their inspired performances. When Gyllenhaal’s character Jack Twist utters the words with honesty and heartfelt earnestness, “The truth is…sometimes I just miss you so much I can hardly stand it” with a quiver in his voice, I start to lose it. Nothing, however, nothing had prepared me for the acting triumph that is Heath Ledger’s performance as Ennis Del Mar. His vocal, physical and internal choices burst my heart open in every frame. He gives a colossal performance because so much of his character Ennis is about what he cannot say, and Ledger conveys all of Ennis’ rage, sorrow and wounds with fullness and fire. It is in my opinion, the best performance by an actor on film since Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot. Something transformational is happening because of this movie. I’m not just talking about possibly many hearts and minds being changed among the straights that see this movie. Something deeper and more personal is also happening for many, and I am speaking as a gay man here.
Friend after friend is haunted by this movie. In a group of friends, we repeatedly talk about is how much this film is deeply affecting us personally. So much grief, so much loss, so much recognition. We call each other in the middle of the day to discuss the waves of emotion that are surfacing even days after seeing the film. It is as if this movie appeared at this point in time in part to facilitate a massive transformational healing among the gay men and others who see it. Some are resolving to hold onto love when they find it while others are looking up loves lost before they “came out”. Why is this healing happening? It is the transformational power of shamanism – the true gift of acting. As an actor, I know how easy it can be this time of year for us to focus and fret on awards and our status, success and recognition we are “getting” in the industry. The true spirit of the Christmas season is about what we are “giving”. As actors we possess the healing gift of shamanism. Because Heath and Jake fully committed to the truth within the material and themselves, with passion and professionalism, this healing shamanism is taking place. If you are an actor, and you had a blue Christmas because you don’t think you are “getting” enough from your career – focus instead on your amazing power to “give” healing through identification and revelation of truth through your performance and then tell me you don’t feel better about yourself as an actor. I and so
many people will be forever grateful to Heath and Jake because they
fulfilled their mission as actors in this movie. You don’t need to be
straight or gay to play straight or gay – just committed to finding the
truth within you and the role and the story. Thanks for the gift, Heath and
Jake. I hope you both had a Merry Christmas too.
LINKS There is an interesting Brokeback Mountain discussion forum run by Dave Cullen. Click the banner below to visit. It is open to anyone to read, but you will need to register (free) to post.
For UK readers, we recommend the Guardian's Film Section. It has three separate "search" facilities and a number of articles on the film, including Peter Bradsaw's review. The original short story, Brokeback Mountain by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx, was first published in the October 13, 1997, issue of The New Yorker. Anthony Lane's review of the movie from the December 12, 2005, issue is HERE Official Brokeback Mountain website
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Posted: 6 January 2006 at 13:00 (UK time)