Homer's Odyssey, superimposed on a Civil War background in the 1860s.

Rating: Null/10 (7 October 2004)

What we always learn from movies about war is that men always start them, and war is terrible for everyone. So the story is familiar. Young men go to war, most get killed, while their wives, children, and girlfriends back home miss them and wonder if they will ever see them alive again. A few of the older, less-capable men stay behind to preserve the peace, but they inevitably get caught up in power and jealousy, and become evil men that the women have to fight in their own war back home. Some men in the army get fed up with all the carnage, and waiting for the war to end, so they become hunted deserters, trying to find their way back home. Meanwhile, as years pass, those who stay home become changed. All that is in 'Cold Mountain', in a story not too different from Homer's Odyssey, except Ada (Kidman)is waiting for Inman (Law), while Ruby (Zellweger) is hoping to stay on the farm that she is working with Ada. It is long, at two and a half hours, and slow at times, but best appreciated almost as a 'mini-series.' Watching it in four 40-minute sessions, with food, exercise, and toilet breaks, made a lot of sense to me! Overall a very good, worthwhile movie. All actors did super jobs, but my favorite was Zellweger as Ruby, truly an Oscar-worthy performance.
SPOILERS follow, in all the rest of my comments, you may want to quit reading now. The movie is edited in an interesting manner. We see Ada and Inman three years earlier, meeting, as she moves to this small town with her father, a minister. He is shy but very capable. She is outgoing and well-educated, but has no skills. Can't cook, can't garden, can't clean house, and after her father dies suddenly is practically helpless. Later after Ruby shows up and becomes her partner on the farm, and they are building a fence, Ada says "This is the first thing that I ever made that has some use." Ruby is just the opposite, she can do anything that a man can do.
The parallel story is in "present" time near the end of the war, Inman is injured, a volunteer reads him a letter from Ada, which motivates him to walk away from the hospital, basically becoming a deserter and hunted man. He begins the long trip back to Cold Mountain, walking along rivers and through forests. He encounters the equivalent of sirens and a cyclops, plus other hazards, becomes part of a chain gang of prisoners, escapes as all others die. Meanwhile Ada is forming a new life, as a partner (non sexual) with Ruby, all the while hoping to see Inman again.
In the snow, in a remote area, Inman finally shows up, and pretending there is some religion somewhere that says you're married is you say "I marry you" three times, they profess their devotion to each other and have one night of bliss in a well-made, tasteful love scene. The next day the rogue enforcer shows up, is snuffed, but one of his men shoots Inman, who a little while later dies in Ada's arms. A tragic ending for him that parallels the fate of the men in 'Das Boot', dying after surviving all sorts of perils before apparently making it home safely.
In the end we jump to about 7 years later, judging from the age of the red-haired girl that is Ada and Inman's daughter. In spite of his death, he had given something good. Ruby had a husband and young child and, the war being over, all were living happily on the farm. Ada also had become a capable person.