You know it's an epic when...

Rating: 9/10 (23 January 2007)

... it spans across 2½ hours, stars a wide-ranging montage of Hollywood stars, features unspeakably picturesque shots, evokes dramatic comparisons of 'Gone with the Wind Redux' and, more than anything, scored over seven Oscar nods with the Academy. 'Cold Mountain' boasts of all of the aforementioned accolades, although it is not usually hailed by critics or fans, possibly because this swelly dramatic Civial War set-up means treading down a road we've all been down before.
Although there is perhaps not much novelty in Anthony Minghella's long epic, the end result is much better than it ought to be. Two things I feel compelled to put forth about this film: 1, how curiously low my expectations were seeing the underwhelming preview and a less-than-favourite cast of mine  only to be completely floored by a fantastic film and 2) how it is perhaps the only film I felt an urge to rewind and rewatch immediately after the end credits had started rolling. Now, I have many favourite films, but none have evoked this particular desire and as the cynic I am, I never thought I'd experience an overwhelming thing like that. This speaks volumes for me.
The very core of 'Cold Mountain' is how absence makes the heart grow fonder. We see how awkward fleeting moments between the quiet, reserved Inman (Jude Law) and the rich preacher's daughter Ada (Nicole Kidman) turn into something quite profound and layered when the former is called to fight against the yankees in the Civil War. Through narrative letters, Ada communicates her longing and love for the soldier who finally decides to desert and head home to Cold Mountain to see her, not really knowing her but being swept away in the idea of his lover. While Inman embarks on a Homeric odyssey of varying degrees of humanity and desperation, Ada is at a loss as how to run a farm at home.
You will be pressed to find a film that more strongly illustrates the dehumanizing effects of war on individuals and communities, even though it is a popular theme in movies. The difference between 'Cold Mountain' and heavy classics such as 'The Deep Hunter', 'Apocalypse Now' and more is that here we find a sweet core of love, and the story is infinitely brighter because of it. The screen is awash with dramatic lushly green hills, rivers, mountains and picturesque cottages and cabin logs filtered through almost unspeakably beautiful cinematography that fleets across the world with apt tracking shots. The costumework is equally impressive, capturing the bruised grace of the era as well as the gritty tragedies of war.
As far as cast is concerned, I was skeptic to see Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Nicole Kidman in the same picture and expected polarised under- and over-acting. I was mostly wrong, for Nicole Kidman gives the best performance in her career as Ada Monroe with pure raw, intense emotional transparency. Jude Law, by contrast, is horribly wooden and botches through emotional scenes. Natalie Portman is not in the film for long, so there is no harm done. Every remaining actor is thankfully heartwrenching and apt in their respective roles, including a bold Renee Zellwegger as the unsinkakle hands-on-hips labourer who comes to help Ada with her decaying farm. She rightfully won an Academy Award for her performance.
'Cold Mountain' is a perfect narrative with a brilliantly and patiently unfolding story, as is Minghella's style. Its only flaw, as I see it, is its inherently Oscar-baiting nature. But then again, it's a Hollywood epic about the civil war so it is presumably difficult not to fall into this trap. All I know is that it is so intense and touching that it fully trumps any film I have seen for the past months.
9 out of 10