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Cold Mountain Customer Reviews (79 - 81 of 87 Reviews)

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'Cold Mountain' is a visually remarkable film with an emotionally charged story. It chronicles the young love between a shy and beautiful minister's daughter, Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman) and an introverted labourer, Inman (Jude Law). Unfortunately for the tentative love between the two, Inman is drafted to fight for the Confederates in the American Civil War 1861-1865. Performing his duty, he fights with the rest of the Confederate men but becomes disillusioned and decides to return to Cold Mountain in order to be reunited with Ada. Will he make it? Will the two have anything in common if he returns? Will Ada be the same woman he knew? You have to see this film to have these questions answered.

This film succeeds in portraying the torment that Ada is experiencing and the desperation that Inman is feeling so much that you simply just want to two to be reunited as soon he leaves! Cue Ruby (Renee Zellweger) who comes in to add a humorous dimension to this romantic epic and to help Ada deal with the hardships of war.

One may argue that Cold Mountain is extremely graphic and violent but this Civil War drama cannot show the audience what happened in those years without being explicit. True, the violence is unbearable at times but this film succeeds in showing that the true experiences of war included rape, pillaging and senseless murder.

The acting in this effort was sublime. Jude Law was electric as the quiet but clever Inman who did not say much but revealed enough to show that he was full of personality. He truly deserves that Oscar nomination and I am keeping my fingers crossed for him. There is no doubt in my mind that this was a career-altering role for him that will reap rewards.

Nicole Kidman always delivers in her films and she does not fail her either but I especially commend her for playing her character with subtlety, allowing her co-stars to shine. Renee Zellweger was superb; she has proven herself to be a versatile actress. Best supporting actress? No doubt about it.

Magical film with beautiful camera work and is brought to a new level with its stellar cast.

Reflections on the Movie "Cold Mountain"
"Cold Mountain" was a romantic movie that showed me a good time. In contrast to most shallow movies in the theaters these days, the novel-adapted movie was moving and rich in meaning. Moreover, the picturesque scenes reminded me of the classic romance "Gone with the Wind" as both of them are about the Civil War and how people deal with it. Of course, it is impossible to be as good as GWTW, but a finely-made movie during these years.

War's ugliness and brutality was vividly portrayed in the movie. The screenplay starts with Inman, the male protagonist, painstakingly fighting in the war. The civil war undermined his nascent relationship with Ada. The war went on, regardless of the injured and dying soldier, not to mention their wretched families. On the other hand, people of the same union did not always cooperate with each other but cast greedy eyes on their comrades' possessions. Violence made people display the most sinister side of their personality, so I was glad that there is no war around me, or people would have to bear the sufferings depicted in the film.

The hesitancy people in old times had when expressing their feelings was beauteous. Ada, the female protagonist, and Inman loved each other with equal passion, yet neither knew the proper way to let it out. The implication held a fascinating beauty to me, for people in modern times do not bother to conceal their feelings.

Brilliant music was composed along with the film. In the movie, the music is peaceful and sweet when the shot moves to Cold Mountain. The songs are particularly beautiful in romantic moments as they served to accentuate the elegance of love. On the other hand, they are also enjoyable to listen to out of the movie. When the two theme songs, ¡§You Will Always Be My Ain Love" and "Scarlet Tide" were performed live at the Academy Awards this year, I was stunned by the magnificent melodies.

In sum, "Cold Mountain" is sorrowfully beautiful. It makes me reflect on my own life as well as appreciating the fantastic scenery shown. Even though the background was set more than a century ago, modern people would still experience the same frustrations and struggled for solutions as ancient people did.

Well, I'd slog 400 miles for Nicole, too
COLD MOUNTAIN inspired more admiration than affection. And seeing it on Christmas Eve was a downer.

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 now in the theaters. Only Zellweger, perhaps, may come out of it with a nod for Best Supporting Actor. It's an excellent period piece worth seeing, especially if you're a Civil War buff.

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