Love is a force of nature: unpredictable and uncontrollable

1963. Ennis Del Mar, a ranch-hand and Jack Twist, a rodeo cowboy in search for a better work and money decide to work as sheepherders in Brokeback Mountain (located in Wyoming), what they ignore is that this job is about to change their lives forever. This is the premise of the award-winning short story "Brokeback Mountain" written by Annie Proulx, adapted to the big screen in 2005 by Larry McMurtry and Dianna Ossana and directed by Oscar winner Ang Lee.

Proulx's story and McMurtry & Ossana's masterful screenplay describe the emotional journey of two people who clearly love each other, but are unable to stay together due to fear of losing everything (even their lives) if they're ever discovered. Ennis is a quiet, distant man who cannot express his feelings as openly as he'd like to. And Jack, on the other hand, is a cheerful, expressive guy who needs to feel affection and being cherished by someone. Even if their tempers are completely different, what Jack and Ennis share will keep them going throughout the years in spite of knowing they might not end up together at all.

Ang Lee has proven in many ocasions he's a gifted filmmaker and this movie is no exception, with a restrained but captivating visual style (thanks to the cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto) that captures perfectly the melancholy and state of mind of these characters. In addition, the performances give this movie an incommensurable value, considering the main characters are young and they have to be played by very talented actors. Lee knows this and trust entirely in the cast in a risky move that pays off brilliantly: Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams as the young wives of Jack and Ennis provide an unexpected humanity to roles that could have been simple adornments to the story. Jake Gyllenhaal proves once again he's one of the best actors of this generation as Jack Twist, the lovesick, charismatic man who wants to share the rest of his life with Ennis in a place where they can't hide their love. And the late Heath Ledger, in a performance that's about to become legendary as Ennis: with a prodigious body language, he embodies the soul of a man whose silence seems to condemn him to loneliness and ostracism, echoing at the same time iconic works with Bergmanian resonances.

Brokeback Mountain is a movie about love, but it is also about showing how fear is the greatest obstacle when it comes to love someone.