"A Tale from the Home Land"

Rating: Null/10 (27 July 2004)

The movie Cold Mountain takes place during the Civil War and focuses primarily on a town in North Carolina called Cold Mountain. Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman) comes to Cold Mountain with her father, Reverend Veasey (Philip Seymour Hoffman) from Charleston. Ada quickly catches the eye of a young man by the name of Inman (Jude Law), but is too shy to tell him her true feelings about him. Soon enough the war has begun and Inman is called to go off to war; and now she is left to deal with her feelings for Inman bottled up and hoping that he comes home from the war. And if matter couldn't get worse Ada looses her father a year later and has nobody to lean on for support. So she is forced to work and live off of the land; and along with what little values that she had left to her name. Almost starved to death and worn down, Ruby Thewes (Renee Zellweger) comes to Ada's rescue. Ruby teaches Ada how to work and live off of the land and teaches Ada what life is truly like -- hard and unfair. Years have passed and the war is still going and Ada has no idea how Inman is or where he is. But her heart is still with him. Meanwhile, Inman is faced with the hardships of war, wounded and determined to find his way back to the beauty of Cold Mountain and into the arms of Ada.
Director Anthony Minghella intentions of the movie are: 1,) He wanted his audience to get a realistic view as to what women had to overcome when the men were off at war; 2,) Soldiers' family and 'sweethearts' is what kept them going and sane during the war. With all of the blood, guts, and death that soldiers had to see everyday the memories of their loved ones help them to survive.
I would consider this movie to be one of the best Civil War movies because it is set in another point of view -- the women at Cold Mountain. Cold Mountain focused mainly on what was going on back home. And that is what I thought was one of the best parts of the movie. Many civil war movies are depicted from the soldiers at war; but here the audience sees what is going on back home.