Southern Homefront Lifestyle

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2017)

Minghella's Cold Mountain is a love story gone wrong. The story was mostly accurate depicting of the impact of the Civil war on the Southerners. The story was written by Charles Frazier- whose great great grandfather, W.P. Inman, fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. During the war, Inman was wounded and brought to a hospital. After he healed, he escaped the prison hospital in Virginia in hopes to return home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina, to reunite with his love. Frazier did not know all the details about his grandfather's journey, but through research, he wrote what he believed Inman's journey would entail as he traveled home. Prior to the war, Ada, one of the main character, has recently moved to Cold Mountain with her father. She doesn't have any friends besides her father, but she briefly meets Inman and they fall in love. However, shortly after Ada's arrival, many men including Inman are overcome with nationalism and join to fight the war.
Ada and her father continue to live on the farm until the father dies unexpectedly. Ada now owns his property and the farm; she frees all of her father's slaves but now is struggling to keep the farm alive. Eventually, a neighbor named Ruby comes along to help her with the farm. Ada learns new skills and the farm begins to thrive again. Ada continues to stay loyal to Inman and writes him several letters. However, as the war drags, the more Ada questions their love- after all they had only known each other for a short period of time. She prays for his survival and tries to predict the future by looking in a water well. With the help of two neighbors, she leans back with a mirror to see the water reflection in the mirror. She briefly sees a man coming closer as crows surround him and he falls to the ground. Confused about the message, Ada is unsure if the message means Inman is returning to her
Meanwhile, Inman is traveling back home. Throughout his journey, he meets a variety of different people and encounters many challenges. He scavenges food and in some households he is invited for an overnight stay. At one stop in particular he meets a young woman named Sara. She became a widow when her husband joined the war and she is currently raising her young baby alone on a small farm. She lets Inman stay for the night but the presences of a man reminds of her husband and she begins to sob. Without a husband or father, Sara and her baby's life will be impacted forever. The morning after, soldiers come to her farm asking for a runaway soldier (Inman). She declines any knowledge but they search her house and torment her and her baby until Inman appears and kills the soldiers. On several occasions during his trip, Inman meets people that will delay or hurry his voyage; very similar to the epic, The Odyssey. In The Odyssey, Odysseus went far to fight in war which lasted longer than expected. He wants to return home to his wife and let her know he's alive but is faced with many challenges. Odysseus encounters a Cyclops, sea monsters and much more. Inman's story is very similar. Inman is returning home from war to reunite with his love, but his journey was not easy and very time consuming. Some people provided him with supplies, others tagged along on for the trip and others make the journey more difficult.
Overall, I think that the attitude about the war is supported well by the variety of people Inman comes across. Each has their own perspective about tolls war brings and each person has a story. Like the hermit goat lady in the forest. She is very kind to Inman without knowing who he is. She heals Inman and sends him on his way with supplies. Although the war changed people, it showed there is still kindness which has been lacking for some time. The movie demonstrates the impacts of the war, not always thought about. More than slave owners were impacted by the war- families lost their males and towns were reduced to mostly women and young children.