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Description:
Nicole Kidman (Academy Award(R) Winner -- Best Actress, THE HOURS, 2002) stars with Academy Award(R) winner Renée Zellweger (Best Supporting Actress, COLD MOUNTAIN, 2003) and Academy Award® nominee Jude Law (Best Actor, COLD MOUNTAIN). At the dawn of the Civil War, the men of Cold Mountain, North Carolina, rush to join the Confederate army. Ada (Kidman) has vowed to wait for Inman (Law), but as the war drags on and letters go unanswered, she must find the will to survive. At war's end, hearts will be dashed, dreams fulfilled, and the strength of the human spirit tested ... but not broken! Directed by Academy Award® winner Anthony Minghella (Best Director, THE ENGLISH PATIENT, 1996).
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Depressing, yet also sappyAug 19, 2010 Stark and depressing, yet somehow also sappy and stereotypical, this film fails on numerous fronts despite an all-star cast and a reasonably compelling story that combines a Civil War epic with the gunslinging and emotional bleakness of a Western. There are just too many stereotypes and storybook leaps here. The man is a perfect paragon of honor while simultaneously portraying a harlequin romance combination of the strong silent type and the bad boy. And the waiting Nicole Kidman tries to bridge incredible faith with a peculiar madness, but it doesn't work and she's just a stereotpyed Southern Belle in lace. The bad guys are all cliches in black hats as well. Renee Zellweger's character is the one bit of promise, the one point of interest here, a strong woman and peppy eccentric, and as the musicians appear on the scene, the film pricks up for a moment. But then the bad guys show up and it disappears back down the hackneyed hole of predictability and emotionl vacuity. And what is this, a sex scene where the two nearly emotionally destroyed, putative virgins sport porno-style shaved bodies? And what is this, he dies the next day slaying the bad guys? But they conceived a child? No. Wow. Just too much by half.
Civil War OdysseyAug 18, 2010 2003's "Cold Mountain" tells the story of Confederate soldier Inman (Jude Law) who deserts after the Battle of the Crater debacle to return to the mountains of Western North Carolina and his one true love, Ada (Nicole Kidman). Inman experiences many different people, events and obstacles on his long journey home, while Ada has her own problems to deal with -- someone's death, the BEG (Blatantly Evil Guy) who has taken over the town with his ruthless cohorts, starvation/poverty, a house and farm she doesn't know how to run, that is, until Ruby (Renée Zellweger) comes along and gives a hand, and more.
As you can see, the film essentially tells two stories that ultimately intertwine. The plot is reminiscent of Homer's Odyssey. In light of Inman's long journey home the film is episodic in nature but thankfully never loses its sense of cohesion.
The story shows how the war destroyed or corrupted the South on practically every level, not just the soldiers who went off to fight, die, be maimed, desert or suffer defeat, but everyone left behind as well. Every person Inman meets on his journey is somehow damaged or corrupted because of the war.
For example, in the case of the family in the large cabin (which also includes the wife's two lonely sisters) the husband's friendliness is a greedy and deceitful ruse to make money off the deserters. All the eligible men have gone to war and those who return are maimed and scarred. Is it any wonder the women are love-starved and try to lose themselves in drunkenness and casual sex?
As for the overt sexuality of that sequence, I think the writer and filmmakers were attempting to contrast the drunken carnal lust of that scene (including the two sisters upstairs with the looney guy) with an intimate love scene later in the story.
The scenes noted above, particularly the former, are very adult-oriented, so be forewarned. This sequence and the immoral and looney "Reverend" Veasey (Philip Seymour Hoffman) may tempt some tune out and judge the film as unwholesome or even "anti-Christian", but this is a premature judgment in light of the entire story and particularly the ending. Not everyone can handle "Cold Mountain" because of its hardcore depiction of the horrors of war, madness and immorality, I understand this, but it's not all death, misery and darkness; these are effectively balanced out by the beauty of life, love, loyalty, companionship, poetry and music.
The film was shot in Virgina, South Carolina and the Carpathian Mountains, Romania, the latter of which are good stand-ins for the mountains of North Carolina.
"Cold Mountain" runs 2 and a half hours and it's just a very well done film on every level, in many ways great. Don't miss out if you haven't seen it; and if you have, be sure to give it another look -- it's worth it as it's full of treasures to mine on repeat viewings.
GRADE: A-
Movie madnessAug 10, 2010 I can not play this DVD. It is saying it is not coded correctly for my DVD player. My sister has a blue ray DVD player, so I thought possibly I had ordered a blue ray DVD by mistake. It won't play on her DVD player either, so now I have a movie I will never be able to watch. :(:(:(
Great escapeJul 11, 2010 I loved the book, love the movie, too. Particularly enjoy seeing Jack White do some acting and singing, strumming! The whole story is just a great escape-
Loved It!Jun 12, 2010 Cold Mountain is one of those movies that I have to watch everytime it comes on television. However, after so many commericial-interrupted viewings, I decided it was time to actually buy the DVD. And it was on sale!
based on 430 reviews
