The End of Brokeback Mountain (Massive Spoilers)- Page 10

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/31/05 at 8:18am

Very apt, Luscious. I think you nailed it.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 4:38pm

Some interesting remarks from Ang Lee regarding Jack's death in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN:

There’s a scene near the end where Ennis is told how Jack died. There are scenes that are ambiguous. You’re not sure what really happened. How do you see that?

AL: At that time, it’s told from Ennis’s point of view. You have no choice but to see his imagination. I think it’s clear to me that his imagination resorted to his bad memory as a child. Why he goes there is helped by the wife’s performance. Anne Hathaway, her performance, I think she’s definitely angry and lying about the truth.

Were you at all affected by what happened to Matthew Shepard?

AL: No, the book was written a year before that happened. There were similarities. In the book, it was said a second time, when he spoke to Jack’s father, that it was bashing with a tire iron. But that’s also in his mind. I shot that, but it kills the other scene if I put another flashback there. So I could only do one.

In the book, the death is implied?

AL: Well, the movie is a photorealistic image. I cannot avoid that. Actually I shot a whole lot more, and the metaphors come along with his imagination. I shot a dead body much longer, closer, I shot the dead body transforming into Jack. I cut it together with a dead sheep. I could go on and on. But that’s just so heavy handed. There’s a question about how much is too much. The audience can get numb and stop feeling anything. That’s what I think most people could tolerate. It happens very quickly, but the shocking effect needs to be there. That’s the best I think the movie can do. I told Annie, you can write about brain surgery, but how much of it can you watch.
Interview with Ang Lee

Updated On: 1/7/06 at 04:38 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 4:44pm

Thanks, BlueWizard. I can't help but think how familiar it sounds... that notion of how much emotion is too much, and all.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 6:22pm

I think what's most interesting about Lee's comments is that, although he believes Hathaway's character is obviously hiding something, he crafted the film to suggest that the possibility of murder is primarily (if not solely) imagined by Ennis. I know a lot of people here are certain that it was a hate crime, but this puts it into question.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 6:24pm

Personally, I like that he did it that way, rather than forcing one way or another down the audience's throats.