Film Openings Analysis #4 | Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Brokeback Mountain is one of my personal favourites. As a huge coming-of-age movie fan, I am exposed to a lot of the same themes, ideas and plots and so when a film comes along and breaks the typical boundaries of the genre, I am willing to give it a watch. In Ang Lee's 2005 understated masterpiece Brokeback Mountain, the coming-of-age tale is between two men, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar, upon discovering their new-found love for each other and exploring their broadening sexuality. To further divert from the generic coming-of-age formula, the film is set up as a Western taking place in the 1960s.

Titles

The opening titles of Brokeback Mountain are understated. They are written in a thin, white font overlayed a vast landscape of rolling hills. This could perhaps indicate the openness of the relationship between the two men with each other. However, this could also possess a double meaning - the two men are forced to be 'normal' in their society and to hide their relationship from society. The titles being over the hills is important also as it denotes their importance, and it is in the hills and mountains that the relationship of Jack and Ennis first emerges and subsequently fully develops.

Music

The idea of understatement and simplicity, but also of concealment and normality is further reinforced in the music that plays in the beginning of the opening scene. However, after Ennis arrives, the music stops playing and the only thing that is heard is diagetic sound - from the train, from Jack's truck. This enourages the audience to focus on the characters' first meeting with each other, emphasising the importance of this scene. The silence acts as a tool to bringing these characters together, making the scene seem more 'distantly intimate'.

Shot Types/Mise-en-scene

The opening shot is a long, establishing landscape shot of rolling hills which, as I mentioned before, almost establish the countryside's hills and mountains as a character, which becomes increasingly prevalent throughout the film. The hills and mountains are Jack and Ennis' last safe refuge. They come here to be with each other, it is here where their relationship first tentatively appears, and then develops into a burning love for each other.
What follows is a series of longer shots of Ennis walking alone. He is seen to be quite lonesome, but perhaps contently so. The long shot of Ennis at the door is interrupted by the moving train, whose engines are going at full throttle. This train is perhaps a representative foreshadowing of the unstoppable force that is Ennis' feelings for Jack that will emerge in the future. The harsh noise of the steam engine is a symbol for the disruption that will occur in both men's lives as a result of these feelings they possess for each other.
Just as the train is leaving the shot, Jack approaches it in his beaten-up truck. Both men are wearing a typical mid-western "cowboy" style outfit. Ennis' in suede and Jack's in denim. The differences of their outward appearance is perhaps evocative of their differing personalities, however them having the same style is perhaps representing how they are similar in many ways that are less obvious, and which will be discovered as the two men develop in each other's presence.
The close up of Jack staring off towards Ennis perhaps indicates a natural curiosity and even, perhaps, attraction towards Ennis and the lingering nature of the shot could represent the desire of Jack towards his co-worker. The same goes for Ennis, who is seen casting sideways glances towards Jack. The nature of the glances could perhaps reinforce the idea of concealment and taboo that exists even in the early beginnings of the two men's relationship.
This notion of desire is again reinforced through the close up of the mirror, where Jack is shaving, in which the image of Ennis is reflected. This could emphasise the theme of taboo desire as Jack must resort to indirect, underhand ways of looking at Ennis. Further, the fact that Jack is shaving could perhaps represent how he is beginning to peel away at his exterior and is already beginning to discover a new side of his sexuality that has emerged as a result of his attraction to his co-worker.