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As a lover
of all things history, I always enjoy any
opportunity to watch historical dramas.
I’m especially into films about the
Civil War. Not because I want to glamorize
it in any way, it’s just that the
period is just so fascinating and I wonder
of late if we’re headed for a re-match
thanks our current (and embarrassingly inept)
administration. I absolutely loved Edward
Zwick’s “Glory” as much
as I relished Ken Burn’s “Civil
War” series. I’ve even attended
a few re-enactments here in Texas, and though
I find a lot of similarities between those
people and the ones who dress up as Klingons
at conventions, they were still quite interesting.
“Cold Mountain” is based on
the award-winning novel by Charles Frazier,
is underneath everything else, a love story.
It boasts a superlative cast with Jude Law
(Inman), Nicole Kidman (Ada) and Academy
Award winner Renee Zellweger (Ruby) and
spins a tale of a man determined to return
to the woman he loves. Ada is a woman who
is used to the finer things in life and
moves to the rural town of Cold Mountain
with her father (Donald Sutherland), who
is a minister.
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She falls in love with Inman, a poor laborer
who almost immediately leaves her to fight in
the war against the North. With most of the men
gone, the town falls on hard time and Ada is not
immune to these effects. She is forced to release
her slaves, her father passes away, and soon food
becomes a luxury. After three years of struggling,
Ada writes to Inman and asks him to forsake the
war and return to her, which after all the horrors
he has seen, is all too ready to do. He risks
life and limb as well as being shot as a deserter,
spending most of the film trying to get home.
As directed by Anthony Minghella, “Cold
Mountain” looks gorgeous. It has shots of
sweeping vistas and beautiful mountains, and even
when the things look bleak, he is able to paint
a picture with each and every scene. The battle
sequences are horrifyingly realistic, which might
cause some to turn away. Yet, for all its technical
wonder, the film feels flat and listless. I would
blame the running time, but I’ve seen longer
movies that didn’t feel as long. I would
even blame the fact that the story moved at such
a slow pace, but again I’ve seen slow moving
films that still completely captured my attention.
No, in this instance I have to lay the blame squarely
on the two lead actors. Jude and Nicole Kidman
perform their roles with a little too much undertone.
It is they who are flat and listless, and we hardly
feel the passion they are supposed to have for
one another. Though their screen time together
is short, we should be able to see that burning
ember in their eyes when they are apart.
What makes this even more noticeable is that the
other actors in the film seem so alive, and at
times almost cartoonish. Rene Zellweger plays
Ruby, a tomboy type who comes to work with Ada
on her farm. She is supposed to be from Texas
and she comes as a brash caricature, complete
with a really bad accent. This in itself is not
a complaint, as she seems to breathe life into
the movie. Even Natalie Portman, as a young widow
with a baby, steals every scene she’s in
with Jude Law.
In spite of the two leads, I found the film to
be watchable, but I just wish they had been better.
One other smaller comment I have pertains to the
film’s content. There are some scenes that
are sexually frank, which normally I don’t
really have a problem with when it’s necessary
to the movie’s plotting. Here, like in most
films it is thrown in seemingly to sell tickets,
and keeps the movie from being just a strong romantic
film.
The DVD from Miramax makes up for some of the
film’s shortcomings by adding a second disc
full of extras. In some cases, the extra features
were a little more interesting than the final
film. There is the obligatory commentary by Minghella
and film editor Walter Murch. It’s not bad
as commentaries go, but because of the length
of the film, it was kind of hard to sit all the
way through. The extras on the second disc are
far more entertaining.
The highlights of these include a 74 minute documentary
“Climbing Cold Mountain” that gives
one of the most in-depth looks into the making
of a film that I’ve seen short of the ones
for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. There is a
ton of behind the scenes footage, including a
look at the sets which were built in Romania.
The other highlight is a 90 minute concert featuring
the music of the film. Lending their talents to
the concert are Nicole Kidman and Sting, as well
as the film’s musicians. If you like the
music, which played a heavy part in the film,
you’ll be mesmerized by this feature.
You’ll also find another shorter making
of featurette, but it seems more like a re-hash
of the first documentary. Add this some deleted
scenes, some storyboard comparisons and a look
at where the film’s folk tunes come from
and you have quite a full DVD set.
I had looked forward to seeing “Cold Mountain”,
and in the end am still glad I got the chance
to see it. There was much about it to like, so
I cannot honestly say it was a bad film, I just
think it could have been a better one.
Directed by: Anthony Minghella
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Renee Zellweger,
Eileen Atkins, Brendan Gleeson, Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Giovanni Ribisi, Donald
Sutherland, Ray Winstone
Extras: Deleted Scenes, “Words and Music
of Cold Mountain”, “Climbing Cold
Mountain” Documentary, “A Journey
to Cold Mountain” Making of Special, Feature
Commentary with Writer/Director Anthony Minghella
and Editor Walter Murch, Sacred Harp History,
Storyboard Comparisons
Specifications: Widescreen (2.35:1) Enhanced for
16x9 Televisions, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound,
DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound
Studio: Miramax
Release Date: 6/29/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: R (For Violence and Sexuality)
Website
We'll give Cold Mountain a B-.
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