Broke Back Mountain

I just saw this last night, coincidentally, as the Golden  Globe awards were going on.  It broke my heart and made me remember how powerful a medium film is--and made me want to play a story like that with Breaking the Ice.

If you haven't seen the film yet DON'T READ THIS. Run, don't walk, to a theatre. 

Otherwise.....

Characters

Ennis Del Mar
Gender: male
Favorite Color: dun
His word web:  dun-done-range-space-alone-abandon-pain-silent
Traits: Cowboy, laconic, angry, violent, raised as a rancher, good hand
Conflict: bad childhood

Jack Twist
Gender: male
Favorite Color: blue
His word web: blue-cool-river-run-open-ride-love-carry-want
Traits: Cowboy, pretty, rodeo, criticizing father, problems with vehicles/mounts
Conflict: wants to be out

Their first date: on Broke Back Mountain
They are brought together by the job, herding the sheep on Broke Back Mountain. 
Their first scene is in the bar.  Ennis takes a turn and brings in his conflict right away *bam*, "I lost my parents and were pretty much raised by my brother and sister."  Jack is enticed. Attraction goes up.

Traveling and working together they build trust by doing little things around the camp together. The breath taking scenery is Bonus dice for amazing description. They care for one another: Ennis cooks for Jack, then goes up to the mountain top when Jack gets sick of it. The bear scaring the mules is a big old Re-roll, clearly, which opens the way for Jack to try to tend his cut.  But the moment comes when they get drunk together and Ennis sleeps out by the fire.  Re-roll: Ennis is freezing, so "Get in the tent" and there you go, Attraction out the roof, and a new compatibility, sex.  The next day, a follow up scene, a Re-Roll, finding a dead sheep. The sweep of the range. Their silence is rewarded with another compatibility: "I ain't queer". 

Oh, man, the heart-ache.  The second and third dates would have to be crisis points in their relationship:  getting back together after four years; when their push comes to shove in their relationship when Ennis gets divorced: why can't they be together now? Being married to a woman was a Compatibility between them. It's Ennis' conflict, coming up again and again.  He's afraid of being hurt, afraid of claiming their love, afraid and bound up in anger and pain and silence by the crazy horrible upbringing he had. 

And the end? Is it an unsuccessful ending, their desire pulling them together but their conflicts push them apart? 
Or--is the end the final key, Jack's conflict coming into play in that final, inevitable way that binds them together, forever? That's how I'll read it. 

The little things of love and life are, and do, make the most compelling drama.  No doubt.

best to you all,
Emily