Hey folks, Harry here... haven't had a whole helluvalot of reviews on this yet... I'm being overwhelmed with just gob loads of RETURN OF THE KING reviews from every screening under the sun. I'll take a break on those a bit... This sounds like another solid film from Anthony Minghella, but it seems to not be as affecting as I believe they wanted it to be. Most of the response I'm hearing from folks about the film is about like an impressed shrug. Which personally I feel is belittling to a film of what I believe is huge scope and scale and emotion... BUT - I haven't seen the film yet, so... I'll just let someone who has speak...
Just got home from a screening of "Cold Mountain" for local press at the Landmark Theatre in town. Before I share my thoughts, I must say that I am writing this while listening to William Friedkin's "To Live and Die in L.A." commentary track. What a kick-ass movie. They don't make 'em with balls like that anymore.
Anyway, back to "Cold Mountain." First of all, I have not read the book, so I can make no comparisons. The movie runs almost exactly two-and-a-half hours. I'm not certain but I think initially it was closer to three. To summarize, it's a great film. Best Picture quality? In my opinion, no. But definitely high quality all-around.
The action kicks off on a battlefield in, I believe, 1864. The South is hiding out in trenches waiting for the North to attack. They know it's coming, they just don't know when. The North is planting explosives near the trenches and their army is lying flat on the ground nearby, ready to charge as soon as the explosives go off.
The explosion is an eye-opener. Soldiers have their clothes literally blown off, which is something I don't remember seeing before. Unfortunately for the North, it creates a huge mound which traps them in front of the South and makes them sitting ducks.
Before all this, we meet a Southern soldier named Inman (Jude Law), sitting in the trenches with the rest of the South. After the bombs go off, things flashback to three years prior.
In the small North Carolina town of Cold Mountain, a young woman named Ada (Nicole Kidman) arrives from Charleston to live with her preacher father (Donald Sutherland). He has a bad heart and his doctors tell him the air will help.
Inman is working on a house when he first meets Ada. They are attracted to each other instantly. They only get to spend a small amount of time together before Inman and the rest of the town's boys head off to war (which they are very eager to do).
The action shifts back and forth between Ada struggling to survive on her father's farm after he dies, and Inman on the battlefield and in a hospital, where he ends up after being shot in the neck during a nighttime attack.
After a nurse reads him a year-old letter from Ada, asking him to stop whatever he is doing and return home to her, he sneaks out of the hospital and begins the long journey home.
"Cold Mountain" is not really a love story. That is part of it, but mostly it?s about what happened to the people, mostly women, who were left behind when the men went off to war.
Though both Northern and Southern soldiers are portrayed in an unfavorable light, the real villains are a group of men that remain in Cold Mountain instead of fighting in the war. I can't remember any of their names, but they are led by an unrecognizable Ray Winstone and a very creepy, albino Charlie Hunman.
This group of about five or six men claim that they hunt down and kill deserters (traitors of "the cause"), but really they terrorize the town and kill anyone they don't like. Winstone's character has a chip on his shoulder because he planned on buying the farm that Ada lives on and feels it is rightfully his.
As an example of what these men do, there is a harrowing scene where they torture Kathy Baker's character because they believe she and her husband (whom they have already killed) are hiding their two sons, who have deserted. The young boys finally run out when they can't handle her screams any longer and are swiftly killed.
Meanwhile, Inman has a few adventures on his way home. He encounters Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays a minister that enjoys breaking as many commandments as possible, believing that the lord offers leeway.
The two of them run into Giovanni Ribisi, who makes a living by luring deserters into his home with help from a group of loose women and then turning them over to the army. Inman also runs into Sarah, a young widow with a newborn played by Natalie Portman.
Ada's savior arrives in the form of Ruby, played by Renee Zellweger. Ada has no domestic skills, is falling into debt and the farm is in shambles. Ruby will help her work the farm (not be her servant) in exchange for food and shelter. Before long, Ruby's estranged father (Brendan Gleeson) shows up, along with Jack White (who isn't too bad despite being in the most overrated band in the world).
OK, I know this has gotten long-winded. But there's a lot going on and I haven't come close to mentioning all of it.
I didn't think the love story was entirely successful. As Ada and Inman note themselves, they hardly know each other. They are appealing characters and the performances are excellent, but emotional resonance is missing. You care more about what happens to them individually than whether or not they end up together and live happily ever after.
Things also drag a bit in the second half. Inman's journey contains too many stops along the way, and some scenes with Ruby, her father and his friends seem redundant.
But overall, "Cold Mountain" is entertaining and involving. Anthony Minghella's an outstanding director and stages superb action scenes. The acting by everyone is top-notch, with Hunman particularly impressive. He excels in creating a character that is easy to hate.
"Cold Mountain" didn't move me the way "Lost in Translation" and "Mystic River" did. I didn't feel for the characters in the same way. But it's a solid triple. There are interesting tidbits here and there concerning the Civil War, and you can't go wrong with this cast. I prefer it to "Master and Commander."
Vincent Hanna
