This is just like Gone with the Wind...

Rating: Null/10 (19 January 2004)

...but with poor/middle class people rather than the rich. In fact, I think they made a couple of references in the film about how the Civil War/Secession was less about southern pride and more about plantation owners wanting to keep their feudal way of life. We definitely get the sense that "war is hell" as evidenced by the trauma faced by the residents of Cold Mountain (along with Natalie Portman's character), but I would have liked the idea of "a war to keep the rich man's slaves," and the concept of Southerners who really didn't give a damn about "the glorious cause" to have really come to the fore.
I wonder if Charles Frazier (or Anthony Minghella for that matter) reads Flannery O'Connor because some of the most shocking images/scenarios in this movie not related to the war itself seem lifted right out of the imagination of the great Southern Gothic: a libidinous preacher, a cadre of grotesque-looking whores with a little boy among them, and a blind peanut vendor spouting words of wisdom.
Even though I highly enjoyed myself, I'm not 100% satisfied. It's a powerful film, sure, but it's not a great film. The ending was too soap opera-ish (a love child? puh-lease). Nicole Kidman and Jude Law didn't stand out as much as they should have. I've seen Jude have more fire in his eyes in other films. Vivian Leigh expressed so much more emotion and raw energy in one look, one raised eyebrow than in all of Nicole's breathy supplications throughout the story. Renee Zellwegger stood out so much more, as did Brendan Gleeson, Ethan Suplee, and Philip Seymore Hoffman. Hell, even Jack White had greater character development and he was in only 10 or so minutes of the film, tops.