Finding the long way home.

Rating: 7/10 (30 July 2006)

I had heard news and stories about this movie before and so this kind of piqued my curiosity when I saw this on the cable days ago.
I don't know much about the Civil War and all that, I have to say first. Given I only understand this is based on Charles Frazier's novel about the final days of the Civil War and that is it.
It's the final days of the Civil War. Inman (Jude Law), being wounded from the war, slowly made his way home to Cold Mountain to be together with his sweetheart Ada (Nicole Kidman) once more. Along the way he had to overcome various obstacles as he had learnt that those soldiers who had escaped will have to be brought back to be on the battlefront once more. Something definitely not all those who had escaped wanted.
Also at the same time, Ada is trying to keep her faith that Inman is still alive and well. She even got a helper for the house and it's in the form of gutsy Ruby (Renee Zellweger).
I was almost horrified looking at the war how some of the soldiers treated the ordinary folk. Looking at how Ada and Ruby are like, they cannot be more different from each other. Maybe Renee's convincing portrayal of Ruby was the reason why she won at the Golden Globes and the Oscars as well.
Maybe for someone like me who may not understand the historical aspects of the Civil War, but then maybe at least the love story part kind of won me over.