Topic: Ennis looking outside through Jack's bedroom window

[Kenny]

Hey Folks...

As we come near the DVD release date, I can't wait to re-watch the scene whereby Ennis looked outside through Jack's bedroom window.  I mean, every move that Ennis made inside Jack's bedroom is so poignant.  Aside from the shirt-discovery scene, I found the "looking through Jack's window" heart-wrenching as well.  I interpreted that as Ennis looking outside to life through Jack's eyes  :'( :'( :'(.  Ennis was trying to see what Jack saw every morning as he looked out to the world.  What do you all think?

Take care,
drew

I had the same thought when I saw that scene. I thought that he was trying to see what Jack saw every day, when he woke up. Looking out that window, to see life through Jack's eyes. Oh God...   :'(

[Petter Gusten]

I had the same thought when I saw that scene. I thought that he was trying to see what Jack saw every day, when he woke up. Looking out that window, to see life through Jack's eyes. Oh God...   :'(

In the novel that is rather clear, it says something like "so, this was the road he saw every day".

[Sunflower79]

I think Ennis was looking outside to see it through Jack's eyes..and maybe a peak into his  soul..looking through a window and seeing your soul..he was gazing out there and seeing the road and maybe wondering where it could have taken him if he traveled it..or he was seeing where Jack traveled and went and where he came back too

[guyinjax]

You are SO right about Ennis looking through the window ... looking at the world as Jack might have seen it.  Beautiful and touching moment.

There are so many moments in this film that just cause me to stagger a bit - and that is one of them. 

The other thing about Jack's house (well, his parent's house) is the old whiteness of it.  So natural and honest - sort of like Jack was himself.  It's a wonderful statement of environment and how it affects us. 

[jazzsinger]

Yes, I thought the 'whiteness' of the house was significant too - its absolute simplicity says something about the spirit of Jack- stripped of all ornament and social trappings, what's left is the strength and purity of his love.  Strong against even the bitterness and homophobia of his father.

I think we see the world as it was to Jack, as Ennis does in this scene.  He is looking at the long road south to Brokeback mountain and beyond to Texas.  And hidden in the closet are the shirts, Jack's memory of Ennis, the defining experience of his short life.

[tpe]

Yes, I thought the 'whiteness' of the house was significant too - its absolute simplicity says something about the spirit of Jack- stripped of all ornament and social trappings, what's left is the strength and purity of his love.  Strong against even the bitterness and homophobia of his father.

I think we see the world as it was to Jack, as Ennis does in this scene.  He is looking at the long road south to Brokeback mountain and beyond to Texas.  And hidden in the closet are the shirts, Jack's memory of Ennis, the defining experience of his short life.

jazzsinger, why did you make me weep?

[shieldmaid]

Yes, I thought the 'whiteness' of the house was significant too - its absolute simplicity says something about the spirit of Jack- stripped of all ornament and social trappings, what's left is the strength and purity of his love.  Strong against even the bitterness and homophobia of his father.

I think we see the world as it was to Jack, as Ennis does in this scene.  He is looking at the long road south to Brokeback mountain and beyond to Texas.  And hidden in the closet are the shirts, Jack's memory of Ennis, the defining experience of his short life.

I agree.  And I think this scene has a great parallel with the final scene, when Ennis looks out the window of his own trailer and sees the road outside, now the only road *he'll* ever know, traveling it now alone without Jack. 

[welshwitch]

But the interesting thing is that the only road Jack knew was the one he followed - unlike Ennis, he admitted who and what he was.So I saw this as his looking down Jack's road and maybe beginning to feel, even subconsciously, that he ought to follow/have followed his own road too or that Jack's road should have been his. And that led to the change in him when his daughter told him she was getting married and his response was "Does he love you?" Seeing Jack's life from a different perspective made him see his own differently too.

[keren_b]

When I first saw that scene, when Ennis came into the room and looked around, the first thought I had was how depressing the room looked. so small and dark, with that lonely little bed and that bare table. maybe it wasn't unusual for that period of time, and it's just me being used to children's rooms the way they are now, with toys and bright colours, but that room seemed depressing to me and I thought that Ennis might feel sad too, knowing that Jack had to grow up in that little suffocating space. Jack was a free spirit, he belonged out there in the wilderness, in the mountains, in the open air, not in this narrow little space which reflected the narrow-mindness of his childhood environment. When Ennis opened the window, just before he sat down, I first thought that he simply wanted to let some fresh air come inside...

[NoReins]

Keren, that's pretty much what I thought. The room wasn't too big and it was probably pretty stuffy. Given how Ennis was already feeling I think he probably just wanted some air to help him breathe and help reduce his feeling of the walls closing in on him.

[coguaro]

Ennis in Jack's bedroom is another deep touching scene of BBM. In that situation Ennis is overhang by a sadness and regret, his soul can't resist like this...I've the impression that all his emotions invade every part of his body and he has a physical malaise: he needs to seat and to take a breath and he opens the window. In that occasion for another time we see the Ennis way to manifest his feelings: by body language.
Every time I see that scene I feel a fist in my throat...

[welshwitch]

Yes, Ennis has spent most of his life repressing his feelings; now they're starting to force their way to the surface he clearly finds it both physically and psychologically difficult. These are his growing pains, growing into the world of feeling.

[ksxks]

Keren, that's pretty much what I thought. The room wasn't too big and it was probably pretty stuffy. Given how Ennis was already feeling I think he probably just wanted some air to help him breathe and help reduce his feeling of the walls closing in on him.

Also, I like to think that after Ennis opened the window to let in air...the breeze blew something in...making him turn his head and see the closet, drawing him to go in there...

I love everyone's comments about this most poignant of scenes.

kathy

[BBBOY]

When I first saw that scene, when Ennis came into the room and looked around, the first thought I had was how depressing the room looked. so small and dark, with that lonely little bed and that bare table. maybe it wasn't unusual for that period of time, and it's just me being used to children's rooms the way they are now, with toys and bright colours, but that room seemed depressing to me and I thought that Ennis might feel sad too, knowing that Jack had to grow up in that little suffocating space. Jack was a free spirit, he belonged out there in the wilderness, in the mountains, in the open air, not in this narrow little space which reflected the narrow-mindness of his childhood environment. When Ennis opened the window, just before he sat down, I first thought that he simply wanted to let some fresh air come inside...

Good point about the room then and kids rooms now. I grew up in a room like Jack's. Not so austere but none the less very ordered and functional, not much room for a kid to express what he was feeling. I'm not sure which is right. In that room I dreamed and imagined and came of age. I didn't have Spiderman posters, Starwars either for that matter. I didn't have posters at all! What I had was my imagination and a sense that there was a world out there that I was going to find an conquor, much like Jack. I'm not sure how much conquoring I did but at least I had a goal.