I have been thinking about what it is that made this film so special. Well the fact that it is about a lovestory between 2 cowboys in the USA is quite original. And controversal, and as far from mainstream as you can get. All good ingredients for an interesting film. And their love story hits you just as hard as any other lovestory would have done. Maybe it hits you harder, because of the more or less hopeless situation the two men are in. 2 gay men, both cowboys, in a part of the USA where gay men not exactly were welcome. Far from welcome, the film actually shows clips about how villages react on gay people. And therefore they have to hide their love for the world. They both marry and have kids, and try to live a “normal” life. For years they only meet some weekends a year, which is tearing them both apart. They live this life for more than 20 years. And that certainly makes you think.
Ang Lee had already proven himself by making films like Crouching Tiger and the Icestorm. Jake Gyllenhaal was surprisingly (I had only seen him in The Day After Tomorrow) good . And Heath Ledger is excellent in this film, as the somehow silent and drawback Ennis.
The story is very gripping, their tenderness is heartbreaking, and their inability to be together is frustrating. You better take some kleenex with you when seeing this film. I needed it.
A must see : 9/10.