a masterpiece in my eyes

Rating: Null/10 (14 February 2009)

Many people have their share of disagreements with the film, and I perfectly understand that Cold Mountain is one of those films which is bound to divide viewers in their opinions simply because; of the familiar cast, the historical backgrounds and proportions, and the whole grandeur in which the whole film is played on.
For me however, one of gems that this film offers is a gritty humbleness for which it deals with the issue. On one hand, the film, with its bevy of Southern accents, farming days and use of the American Civil War as its background, could have easily strayed far away from the development of its characters and their emotional turmoil. However, it kept true to the heart of its characters. What I love about this film is that each and every single scene is pivotal to its characters or plot. Each landscape, each dialogue, to me meant something, and that kept me hooked onto the film IN SPITE of its pace (which some might call slow).
Given that, the performances that the ensemble of actors gave was the best I've seen in awhile. The accents were believable, but what was remarkable was the soulfulness of each and every one of them. For a while in the beginning of the film Nicole Kidman's acting was very familiar to her delivery in films like Moulin Rouge, Australia, Fur where she relies a lot on artifice. But gradually, as her character became a recluse I must say she gave an extremely impressive performance and it's a pity she did not get an Oscar nomination for this. For the actors that did; Renee Zellweger aced a character that could easily have been one-dimensional but which she tackled with a lot of emotional depth and genuine empathy, which made Ruby one of the best things about the film. Jude Law gives a very poignant and thoughtful performance that really juxtaposes against most of the other males on display here. I appreciate his emotional dilemma and the brutality with which he tackles the character with sometimes, which makes Inman a character with his own flaws.
The string of familiar faces who adorn various points in the film e.g. Natalie Portman and Cillian Murphy kind of made this film more universal for me. It seemed like a project that did not set out just for awards, and divide-and-conquer film mogul wars, but something which all the actors really empathised with.
Cinematography was brilliant. The one thing that may hamper the film is how subjective it all really is. Initially, I thought that the film could have dealt more with Ada's loss in the end. After pondering about it though, I decided to come up with this theory- the moments with which she spent away from Inman was already spent reconciling with her loss through Ruby, etc. Her goodbye was already in the works, just like the many days she spent obsessing over the image in the well and considering its various outcomes. Such that her final meeting was really reconciling possibility with reality.
This is a highly meaningful film, if anything.