An Amazing Film

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2003)

"Cold Mountain" is a beautifully-done movie that tells the Odyssey-ish story of a Civil War soldier who is returning home to his love the Odyssey connection is not entirely obvious, and therefore does not detract form the story; it is not merely a re-telling of Homer. There is a blind man, sirens, a goat-herder and such, but really probably simply a coincidence. The story is not simply one-sided; it is not just about Law's character, Inman and his journey. The film also details what was happening on the "home front" in the town of Cold Mountain. The film does an amazing job of detailing what the women who were left at home had to do during the war to survive. The balance between the characters is very effective, and allows the audience to remain connected to everyone involved. The characters are all very well developed and all of the actor(esse)s performed amazingly well conveying the story in a most beautiful and impressive manner. The film also raised some interesting issues; it portrayed the soldiers who learned after fighting for some time that they truly didn't understand the war, and realized that they really didn't know what they were dieing for. It discussed the fanatic men who for one reason or another couldn't fight and therefore stayed at home and took joy in harassing women, and hunting down and killing the men who were "deserters" coming home form the war early. The film touched on many aspects of the Civil War that either I didn't really know, or had never really thought about. The film is also tastefully done; it is not overly-romantic, it does not romanticize, or condemn war, and it acuratly displays what many young woman were subjected to due to the war that Zwellwiger's character states is a man's war; "They created the storm clouds, and now they stand outside in the rain and say: 'Oh s***, it's raining!'." "Cold Mountain" is a well-done and beautiful film to which I give my highest review. I believe that the film, and the three main characters, (Law, Kidman, Zwellwiger) all are deserving of Acadamy Awards. I would also like to state that Jack White did a wonderful job, and that I was pleased to see him in a film. "Cold Mountain" is a must-see, and I highly recommend it.