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Amazon.co.uk Review
The film's episodic structure slightly weakens its emotional impact, and it's fairly obvious that director Anthony Minghella is striving to repeat the prestigious romanticism of his Oscar-winning hit The English Patient. For the most part it works, especially in the dynamic performances of Zellweger and Kidman, and the explosive 1864 battle of Petersburg, Virginia, is recreated with violent, percussive intensity. Those who admired Frazier's novel may regret some of the changes made in Minghella's adaptation (the ending is particularly altered), but Cold Mountain remains a high-class example of grand, old-fashioned filmmaking, boosted by star power of the highest order. --Jeff Shannon
Special Features
- Director’s commentary
- A Journey to Cold Mountain (making of..) (70 mins)
- 11 deleted scenes (20 mins)
- Words and music of Cold Mountain (93 mins)
- Sacred Harp History featurette
- Storyboard comparisons (11 mins)
DVD Technical Information:
- Running Time: 152 mins
- Region Code: 2
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Customer Reviews
The soundtrack to the film adds greatly to its atmosphere, with bluegrassfeaturing prominently, and the songs showing a wonderfully resoluteoptimism to the sorrows of the civil war. As well as featuring in thesoundtrack, Jack White (of 'The White Stripes' fame) makes his actingdebut. Although his acting ability is not on par with Kidman or Law, hepossesses the ability to convey emotion through his music at an equal ifnot greater level.
As a whole this is one of the greatest films I have seen in a long time.It is beautifully acted, has an interesting and moving story and ismasterfully approached by director Minghella. A journey in film if everthere was one, this is definitely worth the trip to the cinema.
The film begins on July 30, 1864, when Union troops, having tunneled under the Confederate fortifications around Petersburg, VA, blast a giant hole in the stubborn, Southern defensive line with a monster mine. In one of the Civil War's biggest boondoggles, the Battle of the Crater, the Federals managed to transform what was potentially a war-winning assault into complete disaster. Shortly thereafter, Reb soldier Inman (Jude Law) is shot in the throat. While recovering in a field hospital, he receives a letter from his sweetheart, Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman), back in Cold Mountain, North Carolina. Ada bemoans the hardships that have beset her since her father's death, and beseeches Inman to come home. Sick of war, Inman skedaddles, and begins the dangerous trudge back to Ada's Blue Ridge Mountains farm, about 400 miles as the crow flies. In the meantime, Ida, a lady of genteel upbringing, who can arrange flowers and play the piano but can't boil water or plant a vegetable, is running her patrimony into the ground.
COLD MOUNTAIN isn't the story of two soul mates together, but rather separate tales of two people desperately seeking each other out on the basis of the briefest of pre-war acquaintances -a few words and a single kiss.
Law's Inman is the strong, silent type whose forte is a long-suffering perseverance that perhaps inspires viewer admiration more than sympathy, even as he encounters the varied perils of his trek: Yankee cavalry, Confederate Home Guardsman hunting deserters, a lonely war widow in distress, and treacherous homesteaders. In the meantime, Kidman's Ada is a bit more animated as she, with the help of Ruby (Renee Zellweger), learns to be a successful farmer and stay gorgeous at the same time. Ruby, an unsophisticated, proud, self-sufficient, country gal with a smart mouth and an attitude, is perhaps the story's most engaging character. Though the rural, Southern accent sometimes seems a bit over the top, Renee's role is about as distant as one can get from her triumph as bimbo Roxie Hart in last year's Best Picture, CHICAGO.
For me, the most intriguing aspect of COLD MOUNTAIN is in the production notes. The film's director, Anthony Minghella, wanted to film in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains around Asheville, but logging and modern life have destroyed the primal density of the area's forests. Then, Canada's forests were found not to be an accurate match. Now what? It wasn't until executive producer, Iain Smith, on a walking vacation in Romania, recognized the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania as resembling an untouched North Carolina. Romania!? In any case, the Battle of the Crater was shot near Bucharest, and Ada's Black Cove Farm and Cold Mountain Town were all outdoor sets constructed in the Transylvanian Alps. And the extras posing as Union and Rebel troops in the opening slaughter were the Romanian Armed Forces. How far we've come from the bad old days of the Cold War!
COLD MOUNTAIN is certainly one of the better films of 2003, but, for me, it lacked the chemistry to be nominated for Best Picture, especially when stacked up against the other exceptional candidates. Only Zellweger is due the nod for Best Supporting Actress. It's an excellent period piece worth seeing, especially if you're a Civil War buff.
There was outrage during the filming of this movie. Anthony Minghella was blamed for not filming in the States as it was an American story. His reply was that the mountain ranges in Romania closely resembled the mountain ranges in the book so he filmed there. He had a valid point. Why film an adaptation in the country where the story's based when somewhere else there's a closer resemblance? So I could see where Minghella was coming from.
It works extremely well. Again I saw this film before I read the book. Before I read the book, I thought it was a marvellous film beautifully shot and told with conviction. I then read the book and about half-way through, I thought to myself how on earth did Anthony Minghella manage to adapt this to the screen? For in my view, the book was beautifully written and the descriptions of the era were magically told. The director managed it brilliantly.
Jude Law is engagingly good as Inman making his way back to Cold Mountain through the ravages of the Civil War to his loved one Ada. Nicole Kidman is also worth watching as the girl who struggles to survive waiting for Inman's return. But it is Renee Zellweger who steals the acting honours as Ruby who comes to Ada's rescue and keeps her company as they are waiting for Inman's return. With a cast of household names on the billing, it makes for compelling drama. I felt that it could have won more than it's solitary single Oscar for Supporting Actress. I thought the cinematography and the editing were first-rate. A film well worth seeing.
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