Good story, but where's the love?

Rating: Null/10 (11 January 2004)

SPOILERS! After seeing Cold Mountain in the theatres, I realized that I could not stop thinking about the story. The story itself was wonderful, with just enough look into the civil war to understand the time period, but also with enough drama to let out your emotions. The adapted screenplay writer did an excellent job with the story while not taking a stereotypical view on the civil war. The war was about slavery, yes (very wrong), but it was also about southerners preserving their way of life, which the movie manages to capture in a beautiful subtext way. The acting was good, although Rene Zellweger outshone the rest of the cast. Jude Law did a good job as Inman, although he wasn't given much chance to maneuver in the story. The character development was almost nowhere to be found, and while viewers feel sad for Inman's death, it is not because of his love for Ada, but for what we know he experienced to get back to her. I didn't feel the love between Ada and Inman as well as I should have, and that took away from the actual character development. However, I did like the story and would have enjoyed it more if I had really felt the love between Inman and Ada. All in all, I would not mind seeing this movie again, but bring some tissues if you are the sobbing type. 3 out of 4 stars