Cold Mountain

COLD MOUNTAIN (15)

D: Anthony Minghella

Miramax/Mirage/Bona Fide/Castel Film Romania (Sydney Pollack, William Horberg, Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa)

US/UK/Romania/Italy 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇷🇴🇮🇹

154 mins

Drama/War

W: Anthony Minghella [based on the novel by Charles Frazier]

DP: John Seale

Ed: Walter Murch

Mus: Gabriel Yared

PD: Dante Ferretti

Cos: Ann Roth & Carlo Poggioli

Jude Law (W.P. Inman), Nicole Kidman (Ada Monroe), Renee Zellweger (Ruby Thewes), Eileen Atkins (Maddy), Ray Winstone (Teague), Donald Sutherland (Rev. Monroe), Brendan Gleeson (Stobrod Thewes), Natalie Portman (Sara)

Miramax and Anthony Minghella's attempt to emulate Gone With The Wind, based on Charles Frazier's novel and featuring a massive cast of A-listers.

Set in the final days of the American Civil War, Jude Law plays a wounded soldier trying to make his way back home to Cold Mountain, so he can rekindle a romance between himself and the reverend's daughter Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman), who is fighting her own conflicts in the small rural town.

I'll have to admit that it took me several attempts to make my way through this film, mostly due to the non-linear structure that makes the opening 30-45 minutes incredibly dull, but once I wrestled my way through the boredom, it turned out to be more entertaining than I originally anticipated.

The cast are all fantastic, particularly those limited to bit parts, and the production does a fine job recreating 19th Century America despite being largely filmed in Romania.  As far as I'm aware, it's a faithful adaptation of Frazier's novel, but I can't say I was too fond of Minghella's direction, nor that this is a little too Oscar-baity than it needed to be. It did succeed with one statue, winning a Best Supporting Actress award for Renee Zellweger which I don't think was definitely deserved. Personally, I think the music was the best thing about the movie.

7/10