Bold Mountain!!!

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 2015)

"English Patient" director Anthony Minghella died before his time. Nevertheless, he made one of the more memorable movies about the American Civil War. Adapting Charles Frazier's first novel, writer & director Minghella depicted aspects of the War Between the States that no other film else has ever detailed. First, this epic length war film unfolds with the disastrous Battle of the Crater at Petersburg in 1864. Late in the war, Union troops tunneled beneath Confederate lines and detonated explosives that they had stockpiled in a mine. Indeed, this constituted a daring maneuver, but the Union didn't take into account the consequences of such a plan and they paid dearly for their audacity. Our sympathetic protagonist, Inman (Jude Law of "Alfie"), is one of many Southern soldiers resting in a trench who got the surprise of their lives. Moments before the explosion, a rabbit tears through their trench and not long afterward the charges ignited and blew up the area. The spectacle of the explosion is truly incredible. Afterward, Union troops poured into the crater as they charged Southern lines, but the rebels trapped them in the crater. "Cold Mountain" not only deals with the battlefront, but also it concerns the home front. After Inman and his friends enthusiastically march off to war, some of the most notorious citizens, led by Teague (Ray Winstone of "Beowulf"), establish a Home Guard. The Home Guard has the right to enter anybody's home if they suspect the occupants are housing deserters, and they may even be able to confiscate the property. Teague and his evil henchman, including Boise (Charlie Hunnam of TV's "Sons of Anarchy"), exploit these opportunities for their monetary gain, too.
Aside from these two little seen events, Minghella assembled a strong stellar cast. As Ada Monroe, the refined daughter of the widowed Reverend Monroe (Donald Sutherland of "M.A.S.H."), Nicole Kidman is a young lady who has been raised like an aristocrat in Charleston, South Carolina, and has led an insular life. She doesn't know any practical to do, except play the piano. The Reverend Monroe left Charleston for reasons concerning his declining health. When they arrive in Cold Mountain, Ada meets Inman while his friends and he are erecting Reverend Monroe's church. Ada and Inman mingle now and then, but they never indulge themselves in hugs and kisses until the day that Inman must depart for war. After the opening Petersburg battle, Minghella shifts back and forth between Ada and Inman. Ada's father dies and she struggles to survive on a farm that she knows nothing about until her neighbors send her a laborer, Ruby (Renée Zellweger) who gets everything back in order for Ada and teaches her how to survive. Meantime, Inman leaves a hospital and deserts. He spends most of his time on foot avoiding groups of Home Front horsemen. Along the way, he encounters a hypocritical preacher, Reverend Veasey (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who has impregnated an African-American slave woman and plans to murder her. Inman thwarts the minister's plans and compels him to suffer the wrath of his congregation. Miraculously, Veasey escapes and stumbles across Inman later during his flight. "Cold Mountain" qualifies as first-class from fade-in to fade-out, with a top-notch supporting cast, including Natalie Portman, Jena Malone, Brendan Gleeson, Giovanni Ribisi, Katy Baker, and Lucas Black. No expense appears to have been overlooked by Minghella in this impressive $79-million production that was partially lensed on location in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania. If you consider yourself a Civil War fan, you should enjoy this movie.
Interestingly enough, as an afterward of sorts to my comment about the Civil War and this film, historian Gary W. Gallagher cites Minghella from an interview about the director's sentiments about the Civil War and its relevance to "Cold Mountain." Minghella words can be found in Gallagher's book "Causes Won, Lost, & Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know About The Civil War." Says Minghella, "This film is not a history lesson. It doesn't exist to stand in for a study of a real event. Rather, it tries to cast light on some circumstances which surround any war . . . . If I thought I was making a Civil War film, then I wouldn't have taken this project on."