Review of:Cold Mountain (2003)
Director:Anthony Minghella
Rating:R for violence and sexuality
Starring:Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Eileen Atkins, Brendan Gleeson
In this film brought to us by Academy Award winning Director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley), and based off the novel of the same name by Charles Frazier, we are introduced to the mountain community of Cold Mountain. In this sleepy little place where everyone knows everyone else’s name, things are quickly about to change with the coming war.
Nicole Kidman and her father have come to Cold Mountain to start a new life. A life that they hope will be filled with new adventures and better opportunities. The blossoming of new love between Ada (Nicole Kidman) and Inman (Jude Law) is abruptly cut short with the news that the war is about to happen. At the onset, it seems that no one really knows what sort of sacrifice they will have to make to achieve victory, but by the end of the film, the sorrow will be felt by all.
The story would have you believe that the most important aspect of the film is the growing relationship between the two main characters‚ but all around them it seems the stories are just as interesting if not more. Probably the best thing about this film is the character Ruby played by Renee Zellweger. She adds the zest that takes this film from being altogether ordinary into something a little better‚ maybe on the brink of excellent. Her character is the meat in this delicious stew the Director is cooking up. Not far behind is Jude Law‚ in a performance that proves his range. If you remember, he played the character of the photographer in Road to Perdition to much acclaim.
The story is an adequate stage for some of the performances‚ and overall it is a nice film. It just seems that in a love story you should really care if the two characters come together. You almost want to root from them from the middle of your seat as if you were watching Rocky for the first time. I was not inclined to do that too much with this film.
