The scene in which Jack hits Ennis in the nose begins with an establishing shot of Ennis sitting in the grass. Rather than zooming in on him, the camera quickly cuts to a closer shot and then to Jack staring off at Ennis. The cuts make the scene seem faster, and more impulsive than a zoom or pan would have. There is less time to look at the mountain. The scene does not appear to be romantic at first but I think that there are many ways in which there is some sort of strange romantic element to their fight.
As Jack and Ennis roll in the grass I wasn’t sure if the scene was at all sexual. They appear to be laughing at first but as the fight continues it seems less playful. This scene can be paralleled to previous sex scenes (especially the first one) because of the roughness of it. After Ennis’ nose begins to bleed Jack holds the back of hiss neck and looks worried as if he wants to kiss him, however all he does is allow Ennis to bleed on his sleeve. I think the relationship between this scene and the sex scenes is a deliberate choice on Ang Lee’s part. It is effective because it shows that there is a physicality to their relationship which is more than sexual (there is a lot of eye contact, which shows intimacy) but at the same time they don’t know how to talk about it. To me it seemed like the anger in this scene came from all of the things Jack and Ennis can’t say to each other. This is the last close moment Jack and Ennis have together before they go back down the mountain so in some way it is like a goodbye, but like the rest of their relationship it ends with many things left unsaid, and many desires unfulfilled.
This scene is important to the end of the story when Ennis finds his shirt inside Jack’s “like skins”. Rather than have a flashback at the end Lee chose to have this scene be one that the audience sees, which I can only assume means that we are expected to remember it at the end. (Also, once they reach the bottom of the mountain Ennis mentions that he lost his shirt, when we know that Jack actually took it)
I also think that this scene is interesting when compared to Ennis and Alma wrestling in the snow (maybe someone else wants to talk about that?)
I am also unsure as to whether the scene where Jack and Ennis were rolling around was sexual. I thought it was going to be at first and I was a little surprised when it got more violent, but at the same time I sort of saw it coming. I didn't really like the line about Ennis losing his shirt but I understand why Lee put it there. If you haven't read the story you wouldn't necessarily understand the connection and since there is no narrator it would never be explained. I am 100% going to talk about the differences in wrestling in my blog post.
ReplyDelete