Epic Tragic Romance

Rating: Null/10 (10 October 2006)

Minghella's Cold Mountain is a long one - over two and one half hours - and it delivers on all cylinders. It's a love story cast in the classic 'epic love story' mold.
The acting cast are impeccable and impressive: Kidman, Law, Zellwegger, Hoffman, Gammon, Gleeson, Ribisi, Sutherland, Winstone, Baker, Portman - and an assortment of mostly English to round things out.
That gives reason to pause: this is a movie about the US civil war with a mostly non-US cast and filmed in Romania. That's reason to pause and ponder.
It's an intriguing tale, very bloody at times, and it's not hard to see where it's going, but its obviousness does not deter. It has its requisite 'stacked deck' and it's not hard to see where the final comeuppance there is going to be either.
But in movies such as this such comeuppance is not without its price. This might be a love story, but it's also a tragic love story, and so even the scenes the audience long for must be tainted with sorrow.
Alison Krauss sings a couple of tunes for the soundtrack, one of which is composed by G Sumner.
Kidman is hardly my favourite actress or personality yet she shines here. Although she doesn't have all the classic features, Seale knew how to grasp what she has. If anyone stands out above their colleagues it is Renee who deservedly won an Oscar for her performance. But they're all good. And Law is an excellent counterpoint. And there are so many good anti-war quips in this bloody drama it's not funny.
Watch for a punk rocker singing hillbilly tunes.
Well made and infinitely more sympathetic than The English Patient from which it seems to derive theme and substance, but is it a keeper? Something to have on the DVD shelf?
That's another question entirely. You might appreciate it and enjoy it but it's likely you won't want to buy it.