Movie passes but not Mountains

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2004)

Starting in I had a trepidation that "Cold Mountain" was going to be sympathetic to the South. It takes place in the fictional town of Cold Mountain in western North Carolina. The townfolk are constructing a church in anticipation of the arrival of the new pastor (Canadian Donald Sutherland) and his daughter (raised in Australia Nicole Kidman). Sparks eventually fly between the daughter, Ada, and a carpenter, Inman (Englishman Jude Law).
The romance between the two is supposedly the main plot point sustaining the movie but it's really to demonstrate the futility and eventual desperation of the Confederacy. When war was announced, the menfolk of the town were enthusiastic to join the fight. Three years later, some of them - those that haven't died - have had their fill of fighting and try to return home as deserters.
Here's where the dramatic tension comes in the film. The South had set up a Home Guard, a force granted powers to ensure deserters and the people who sheltered them were punished. Naturally the Home Guard abused those powers and that's what we see in "Cold Mountain".
I read one negative review regarding the lack of African-Americans in the film. It is true their are very few scenes with slaves but I let is slide because the scenes take place mainly in the Appalachians where slavery was not common. Indeed it gets me to thinking why the people there would want to fight for a system that was against their interests.
What did confuse me were the mountains. The Appalachians are ancient and rounded. The film was shot in Romania and its craggy Carpathians. I expected to see troikas in the mountain snow scenes.
Lastly a reviewer remarked the Renee Zellweger appeared to be channeling Granny Clampett. It was meant as a insult but I like that. I now think of her character as Granny Clampett's Granny.