It could have been better.

Rating: 6/10 (7 December 2003)

Director/Screenwriter Anthony Minghella takes so much time showing gruesome battle sequences that the fragilelove story between Ada and Inman hardly has a chance to come to life during the first 45 minutes of the film. It's only after the appearance of Renee Zellwegger as the mountain woman Ruby Thewes that the picture becomes interesting. If nominated in the best supporting actress category, Zellwegger will be hard to beat this year. The film strives so hard to be epic in scope that the intimacy is often lost. "Cold Mountain" is a good film, but could have been a very good one had it been edited down to under two hours by chopping out much of the military violence.
Nicole Kidman as Ada is not asked to do much. Jude Law as Inman has the more physical and challenging role and is outstanding. The supporting cast is also excellent.
One of my friends loved the film. Another said she wouldn't have gone had she known it was going to be so violent. Me? I though it could have been better.