Months of hype, hope and speculation have swirled around Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain --known to the curious, the captivated and the critical as “the gay cowboy movie."

The film earned the prestigious Golden Lion award earlier this year at the Venice International Film Festival, and it is already being heralded by some as a landmark in gay cinema. The positive press has only added to the film's mystique.

But Brokeback Mountain is not a steamy romance, nor is it--as some feared--a watered-down tale of two men in love. At its tender, tragic heart, Brokeback Mountain is a quietly powerful portrait of repression, identity, trust and truth. You're likely made of stone if something in this haunting film doesn't move you deeply, make you think or touch your soul.

Director Ang Lee is no stranger to those troubling themes, having explored them expertly in the heartfelt gay film The Wedding Banquet. He mined similar territory in such terrific films as Eat Drink Man Woman, Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm and--less effectively--in Ride With the Devil and (ouch) The Hulk.

Brokeback Mountain is based on a short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx. It was originally published in a 1997 edition of The New Yorker. Screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana have beautifully expanded Proulx's writing and have stayed true to the heart of the story.

It's a perfect vehicle for Lee, who approaches filmmaking with an uncommon grace and a perspective that's both wide open and startlingly intimate. He draws intense, vivid performances from every actor in his stable, including supporting characters with only a few lines of dialogue. Every moment counts, and each person on screen makes a lasting, emotional impression. Brokeback Mountain stands tall among Lee's best work.

Brokeback's epic tale of love focuses on stoic ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and amateur rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal). They meet while looking for work in Signal, Wyoming, but sparks hardly seem to fly at first. The pair is assigned to work as sheepherders on Brokeback Mountain, where they'll have to spend several months eating, working and sleeping alone.

Slowly--and unsurely--Ennis and Jack become friends. There are signs of something more, something bigger than physical attraction or sexual hunger. It simmers beneath the surface, but you can see it in Jack's soulful glances and feel it in Ennis' unfamiliar sense of discomfort.

The boundaries of friendship are finally crossed one late, bitterly cold night inside a small tent. When the moment finally does happen, it is startling--but not for the reasons you might expect.

The shock goes beyond the sight of seeing two A-list male heartthrobs share an onscreen kiss that's not hidden by shadows or side camera angles. What makes it so revelatory is the simple, sincere and honest way Ledger and Gyllenhaal approach their scenes and the movie in general. Both actors are completely committed to their roles and extract moments of pure truth from themselves and from each other.

Through their performances, we can clearly see what has drawn Ennis and Jack so closely together. Their passion and attraction is driven by the desire to connect with someone after being truly alone for so long. It's something both men have been unable to do their entire lives, be it with women, with friends or with family.

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