Disappointment for a huge fan!

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Cold MountainA typical love story set in a war zone that wanders onto the same lash and delivers it convincingly but unfortunately its the same meal we have been having for the course of its runtime. Anthony Minghella; also the director of The English Patient, is back with a similar project no matter how much admirable, in the end it all seems been-here-done-that. The feature scores majestically on performance level where Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Renee Zellweger are doing some of their career's best work. Cold Mountain; being a character driven feature, goes deep into it where the priority is set to project the bonding between the lead characters (Jude restraining himself from being seduced and Nicole suffering through loss was the perfect way to bind this parallel roles on screen) which is fulfilled utterly by the script.

I should start by noting that I've never read the novel on which Anthony Minghella's "Cold Mountain" is based. Seeing the movie on its own, I can say that it's a good movie. The gist of it is that war damages all sides involved. Inman (Jude Law) and Ada (Nicole Kidman) have vastly dissimilar experiences in the US Civil War but they both get affected by it. Even after the war, the effects will take years or even decades to heal.The most interesting character in the movie is Ruby (Renée Zellweger). From a background unlike Ada's, she always has something to say. But she, like the other characters, won't remain untouched by the events surrounding her.One of the points made with the movie is that not every southerner at the time was a slave-owning racist. Plenty of them rejected the plantation system and simply wanted to live their lives. It was unfortunate that the events of the ten years following the Civil War resulted in the old Confederates rising to power again and establishing the Jim Crow Laws, resulting in almost a century of institutionalized racism.Anyway, it's worth seeing. Zellweger deserved her Oscar for her role.

Minghella's Cold Mountain is a love story gone wrong. The story was mostly accurate depicting of the impact of the Civil war on the Southerners. The story was written by Charles Frazier- whose great great grandfather, W.P. Inman, fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. During the war, Inman was wounded and brought to a hospital. After he healed, he escaped the prison hospital in Virginia in hopes to return home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina, to reunite with his love. Frazier did not know all the details about his grandfather's journey, but through research, he wrote what he believed Inman's journey would entail as he traveled home. Prior to the war, Ada, one of the main character, has recently moved to Cold Mountain with her father. She doesn't have any friends besides her father, but she briefly meets Inman and they fall in love. However, shortly after Ada's arrival, many men including Inman are overcome with nationalism and join to fight the war. Ada and her father continue to live on the farm until the father dies unexpectedly. Ada now owns his property and the farm; she frees all of her father's slaves but now is struggling to keep the farm alive. Eventually, a neighbor named Ruby comes along to help her with the farm. Ada learns new skills and the farm begins to thrive again. Ada continues to stay loyal to Inman and writes him several letters. However, as the war drags, the more Ada questions their love- after all they had only known each other for a short period of time. She prays for his survival and tries to predict the future by looking in a water well. With the help of two neighbors, she leans back with a mirror to see the water reflection in the mirror. She briefly sees a man coming closer as crows surround him and he falls to the ground. Confused about the message, Ada is unsure if the message means Inman is returning to herMeanwhile, Inman is traveling back home. Throughout his journey, he meets a variety of different people and encounters many challenges. He scavenges food and in some households he is invited for an overnight stay. At one stop in particular he meets a young woman named Sara. She became a widow when her husband joined the war and she is currently raising her young baby alone on a small farm. She lets Inman stay for the night but the presences of a man reminds of her husband and she begins to sob. Without a husband or father, Sara and her baby's life will be impacted forever. The morning after, soldiers come to her farm asking for a runaway soldier (Inman). She declines any knowledge but they search her house and torment her and her baby until Inman appears and kills the soldiers. On several occasions during his trip, Inman meets people that will delay or hurry his voyage; very similar to the epic, The Odyssey. In The Odyssey, Odysseus went far to fight in war which lasted longer than expected. He wants to return home to his wife and let her know he's alive but is faced with many challenges. Odysseus encounters a Cyclops, sea monsters and much more. Inman's story is very similar. Inman is returning home from war to reunite with his love, but his journey was not easy and very time consuming. Some people provided him with supplies, others tagged along on for the trip and others make the journey more difficult. Overall, I think that the attitude about the war is supported well by the variety of people Inman comes across. Each has their own perspective about tolls war brings and each person has a story. Like the hermit goat lady in the forest. She is very kind to Inman without knowing who he is. She heals Inman and sends him on his way with supplies. Although the war changed people, it showed there is still kindness which has been lacking for some time. The movie demonstrates the impacts of the war, not always thought about. More than slave owners were impacted by the war- families lost their males and towns were reduced to mostly women and young children.

Cold Mountain (2003): Dir: Anthony Minghella / Cast: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman: Provocative drama about distant affection and the peaks that are not as high as they seem. Set in mid 1800's Jude Law fought in the civil war and suffered injury but he reflects upon the woman awaiting his arrival at Cold Mountain. She is played by Nicole Kidman and she is the daughter of a minister whose lifestyle changes after his passing. This subplot is interesting but Law's trek across country is littered with pointless subplots that greatly weaken his necessity. This climaxes with a simplistic gunfight and shed tears that viewers likely won't fall for. Directed by Anthony Minghella who made a superior film called The English Patient. Here he is backed with fine production. While Law's role becomes greatly expendable, Kidman slowly becomes a woman when a ragged Renee Zellweger appears. They have a fine chemistry as Kidman gets her hands dirty and Zellweger gets her hands dirtier. Among cameos are Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a sleazy minister who steals his moments with humour and found guilty of a crime for which he meets consequences. Natalie Portman has a pointless role as a woman raising an infant son, and whom Law assists in a crucial moment. Theme of emotional endurance is evident in our cold society. Score: 6 ½ / 10