Neurotrash

Cold Mountain review

It's Oscar season, and all the studios are pushing out their award contenders. Thus, Miramax offers us Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain, based on a novel by Charles Frazier.
I've never read the novel. I'm no fan of Minghella's. In fact, I think that his previous films suffered because of his involvement. However, I'll say no such thing about Cold Mountain. It's an excellent film, and Minghella seems to have truly hit his stride in bringing the printed word to screen.
The story of a Southern laborer who goes off to war, more or less because it's expected of him. Inman (Jude Law) is a man of few words. He's tired of war and fighting and death, and he just wants to get home to the woman he loves.
It's also the story of Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman), the Southern belle Inman fell for, who must learn to fend for herself when her fragile world falls apart around her. The war takes the men from her town, tuberculosis takes her father from her, and she is left alone and helpless with no skills to survive on. Ada can't even cook for herself, and ekes out a lonely existence hiding from her charitable neighbors and avoiding the attentions of the local Home Guard captain, Teague (Ray Winstone), who covets Ada's farm and takes special pleasure in rooting out deserters. Eventually, Ada is approached by Ruby Thewes (Renee Zellweger), an uneducated, crude woman with big plans for the farm. Together, they manage the land and even out each others' weak points...Ada's naivete and lack of real world skills and Ruby's cold heart and lack of culture.
Inman sees all his friends cut down by the Civil War, is wounded in battle, and escapes from a military hospital to begin a lonely trek home. The road is long and hard -- and filled with peril, too, as the Home Guard patrol the road and rivers.
Funny thing is, I've told you what happens in the story, but not what it's really about. Cold Mountain is about the shorthand poetry that exists between two lovers...a thousand fleeting moments that they remember when they're parted. Minghella's predeliction for voiceovers and flashbacks really serves the movie well, as Ada's letters and words carry Inman's failing spirit home. The two barely know each other, but it's those moments that hold them together.
The writing and performances in Cold Mountain are excellent, but it's the photography where Minghella finally makes some advances. No more heavy filters, no more over-reliance on warm lighting. John Seale's cinematography captures both the beauty and the grime of the south with equal grace. Gorgeous looking film.
The movie is filled with great bit parts and cameos, including Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a fallen preacher; Melora Walters and Giovanni Ribisi as a couple of backwoods rednecks; Natalie Portman as a young, widowed mother; and Brendan Gleeson, Jack White and Ethan Suplee as a band of deserters turned musicians who take up residence near Ava's farm. Yes, that's Jack White from the White Stripes, and he's just fine as an actor (though he really doesn't have much to do).
Yes, I know the holiday season is jam-packed with movies. But, check out Cold Mountain. I think you'll really like it.