Last Scene ("I swear" scene)

[gattaca]

^^^ There are so many paths to interpret what we see in the film formed by our own experiences as well as what Ennis imagined while on the phone in the booth +  and "deleted scenes".

I've wondered far too many times how the film would have played WITHOUT those flashes of what Ennis was thinking in the booth.  Did Lee need to make it explicit or did he show us this to surface Ennis's fears?   Why did he cut the "mechanics" from the film too?    What do you think? 

I know nearly every viewing I saw when those visuals hit the screen of them beating Jack, stomping on him and kicking him in the gonads hit, there usually was a audible gasp.... the impact was real...  Would there have been a gasp without that?

The final cuts also usually hit like a ton of rocks... people were visually shaken and again depending on your PoV and life's experiences, that cut to the small, tiny framed, scratched window into "fields of golden wheat" varies.  Lee's impact was real, it was visceral and it was lingering.

Very well said. -> "Not that it matters - he died because Ennis couldn't accept the truth, and that's the reality which Ennis has to live with."  Jack even said it once in their final argument, "We could have a life, a really good life but you didn't want it Ennis.  So all we got now is Brokeback Mountain."  V.

the clo

[Ministering angel]

Hi, Vincent.

I assume he included Ennis's thoughts because they appear in the story. Diana Ossana said that everything in the story made its way, one way or another, into the script, and I think it's essential to know these inner thoughts as Ennis hears about Jack. he spent 20 years fearing an attack as happened to Earl and Rich, and in the end it was Jack who died, i.e. his overcautious behaviour failed to protect Jack.

As for the mechanics, perhaps that would have been too much emphasis on an attack rather than the uncertainty of the story.

As I said (and it's not an option which the film pushes at all) I see it as suicide-by-accident. That's laid out in the symbolism of Jack as Dido and as Ophelia. Dido clearly committed suicide. Ophelia probably did but maybe it was an accident. Pumping up split rim tyres (and AP does emphasise 'the rim') when in front of them is a no-no.

Whatever his physical fate, Jack died of a broken heart. He was dying from the moment Ennis punched him.

[gattaca]

^^ "He was dying from the moment Ennis punched him." After all these years, I've never thought about it that way... it is bullseye.  TY. V.

[B.W.]

Hi, Vincent.

I assume he included Ennis's thoughts because they appear in the story. Diana Ossana said that everything in the story made its way, one way or another, into the script, and I think it's essential to know these inner thoughts as Ennis hears about Jack. he spent 20 years fearing an attack as happened to Earl and Rich, and in the end it was Jack who died, i.e. his overcautious behaviour failed to protect Jack.

As for the mechanics, perhaps that would have been too much emphasis on an attack rather than the uncertainty of the story.

As I said (and it's not an option which the film pushes at all) I see it as suicide-by-accident. That's laid out in the symbolism of Jack as Dido and as Ophelia. Dido clearly committed suicide. Ophelia probably did but maybe it was an accident. Pumping up split rim tyres (and AP does emphasise 'the rim') when in front of them is a no-no.

Whatever his physical fate, Jack died of a broken heart. He was dying from the moment Ennis punched him.

The suicide theory is an interesting one, though I don't really agree with it.  I think Jack was heartbroken about Ennis rejecting his numerous offers about them building a life together, but I just can't imagine Jack killing himself knowing what that might do to his mother, and to Ennis.

[B.W.]

Brokeback Mountain Ending Explained:
 What Really Happened To Jack?

By: Gokul Chettiyar - April 27, 2021


Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 American Romantic Drama that depicted the time frame between 1963 and 1983. Directed by Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain is a story of two homosexual men at a time of life when homosexuality was not just frowned upon but also seen as a crime. Ang Lee got attached to the project after previous attempts to do so went nary. The filming was finally confirmed when Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal got cast in the central roles in 2003. While the film stars Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar and Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist, we are even accompanied by Michelle Willams and Anne Hathaway playing their respective wives. And even though it has been nearly 17 years since its initial release, people still question what happened at the end of the movie. So, this article will look into the Brokeback Mountain ending.

The film depicts a complex emotional and sexual relationship between two American male cowboys as they try to be together yet just can’t. This love story is one that caught people off guard as what it depicted was truly painful. There are people out there to this day who are terrified of coming out of their shells and showing their true selves. So a film that showed the adverse effects of being homosexual was only painful to watch. As the film ended, people were left with a few questions. These questions will be answered in this article as we get some insights provided by the film cast member as well.

https://otakukart.com/brokeback-mountain-ending-explained/

Coming out as LGBTQIA+ in 2021 is still hard for people all around the world.  I think it's intriguing that Ang Lee's film "BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN" (2005) still inspires controversy, critical examination and interest about 16 years after it's theatrical release, but I think the most interesting films tend to do that.  The author of this article, which I've not read but this excerpt from it sounds interesting, incorrectly states that it has been "nearly 17 years since the film's initial release".  Actually, the 16th anniversary hasn't even past yet.  It would be great to see a recent retrospective article on the film, is themes, its unexpected success, and its legacy.  I wish Heath Ledger were still here to talk about it.  I sometimes wonder how he would feel about it now?  I imagine that he, like Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams, would consider it as being a highlight of his acting career.



I mean, Heath already showed before "BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN" that he had talent, and that film allowed him to showcase some of the best and most promising sides of his talents as an actor, and he did so again with his final performance in "THE DARK KNIGHT" (2008).

[Flyboy]

That scene is a heartbreaker for sure........goes to our hearts, all the things we SHOULD HAVE SAID!! 

[CellarDweller115]

seeing the two shirts hanging in Ennis' closet with the postcard.....and the tears in his eyes.........just heartbreaking.

[gattaca]

^^^  Been a while since this thread surfaced:  I was just thinking about it the other day... I've played that scene over and over in my head must be 1000x and visually watched it 40+.
Each time I can have a different take but they all revolve around whether the "I swear" is Ennis swearing because: 
a) He did not understand how much he really loved and cared for Jack?  (Took him for granted, so to speak)
b) He would change his life going forward and engage with his daughter(s)?
c) He would find someone to share his life with? 
d) Loneliness would be his fate?

The cut to the scraped up window where we see the golden fields through...just add layers to the intertwined shirts. 

It was a brilliant suggestion by Ledger to put Jack's shirt inside his  own.  Lee's direction and vision to leave so much up to the viewer and make it easy to flow their own lives on that moment delivers gut punches like no other film has since...IMHO.   V.

[CellarDweller115]

I don't think it was "d".  Ennis spent most of his life alone.   His parents had died, moved out of his sibling's place, divorced from Alma, only saw Jack every few years,  Ennis was alone quite a bit, and probably just assumed that's how life was.

[Sara B]

My feeling is that it could be the acknowledgment that Jack’s love is the most important and sacred thing in Ennis’s life. But I also like the ambiguity of it, as in so much of AP’s short story.

[gattaca]

^^^ Yeap.  Only then, at that moment, did Ennis, after talking to Alma, realize how much he loved Jack.  I also agree about d)... Ennis had been flying solo for so much of his life, I do not believe he really knew anything else... so was that to be continued or broken? as in "Jack, I swear...."  I'll try harder to find someone and do things differently this time?     V.

[killersmom]

^^^ Yeap.  Only then, at that moment, did Ennis, after talking to Alma, realize how much he loved Jack.  I also agree about d)... Ennis had been flying solo for so much of his life, I do not believe he really knew anything else... so was that to be continued or broken? as in "Jack, I swear...."  I'll try harder to find someone and do things differently this time?     V.

I'm not sure Ennis would be brave enough to find someone else. Even if he didn't admit to himself, Jack was the love of his life, and I feel no one would be able to take Jacks place in Ennis' life and heart.

Maybe he'd show more active interest in Alma's life, but I think he won't go any further than that.

[CellarDweller115]

Found this today, but it's 10 years old.

I went through the thread, and don't see that it's been posted before.


Scene Analysis: Brokeback Mountain
JANUARY 22, 2013


Today marks the fifth anniversary of Heath Ledger’s death, so what better way to honour him than to revisit perhaps his greatest moment as a screen actor, and to remember – in my humble opinion – one of the best and most moving cinematic performances of recent times.

The scene in question from Brokeback Mountain, marks the final, quiet moments of main character Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) as he goes about his daily business in his trailer home. The sequence is in essence a summation of the ultimate tragedy and ruination Ennis finds himself in by the story’s close, although crucially it also locates the grace Ennis finds in his submission to quietly living out his remaining days in a form of worship to his lost love. Ennis may have ended the narrative in a materially weak position as a poor, ‘unsuccessful’ man, but the film accords him the status of moral nobility.

Ennis is a man now well into his middle-aged years – he even has a teenage daughter – and much like with Orson Welles in the great Citizen Kane, there is a knowing power/poignancy in bearing witness to the lifetime ageing of the central character through the film (it helps that both Ledger’s and Welles’ are remarkably virtuoso performances too). Of course, our conscious selves know it’s a twenty-something Heath Ledger, but the part of us that suspends our disbelief each time we enter the cinema, is moved by following Ennis every step of the way, through the years, as he fades away in the melancholic undertow of his thwarted affair with Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal).


https://pnabarro.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/scene-analysis-brokeback-mountain/

[gattaca]

^^^ Very worthy read...  (emphasis below in quote is mine...)  Chuck, THANKS for posting, I'd not seen his review until now.

The final paragraph or so really captures how I felt the first few times I saw this final sequence.  It was masterfully executed by both Ledger and Ang Lee to deliver a message, while missed by many, was clearly understood by those who've lived it.  The "golden fields of wheat" is such a juxtaposition to Ennis' being at this time.  I've always seen those final seconds as:  Here's Ennis, who's resigned himself to living in a tiny trailer, staring out a scratched hazy window looking to fields of gold (what might have been)."   It still gives me chills just to replay those seconds in my mind.   

"... Again, Ennis poignantly takes time to do the buttons up on Jack’s shirt (0.35), and though from a strictly impersonal perspective it may seem an unhealthy and abnormal ritual, knowing Ennis as we do – with his chronic emotional dysfunctionality – there is a natural logic to him only being able to live in and commemorate his feelings for Jack, after he has died.  What immediately follows is the moment of ‘catharsis’, when the camera moves to Ennis’ face and captures him in bittersweet tears (o.43). This, in a sense, is not only release for Ennis, but the audience too, after two plus hours of emotional torpor.

What’s so beautiful about Ledger’s tears are how genuine and unactorly they are. You’ll notice the brilliance in the subtlety of Ledger’s acting when at 0.45 he makes an ever-so-minimal nodding gesture. The nod and then the cleverly elusive “Jack, I Swear” (0.49) demonstrating how Ennis is acting out a form of sacred communion with Jack, also apparent from his attempt to personify Jack’s clothes by buttoning and arranging them carefully.

Ennis tenderly touches the photo of Brokeback Mountain (0.56) – the symbolic haven for his and Jack’s love – then Lee brilliantly finishes on a classic ‘western’ shot of an open plain as Ennis closes the wardrobe (1.00). Far from eliciting a sense of closure, I actually think that the vista is almost suggestive of Ennis’ colossal loneliness, trapped in a barren and desolate, emotional – as well as physical – geography, from which he’ll never be able to recapture the idyll of his lost love. (January 2013)"    V.

[Sara B]

Thank you, Chuck.