This is why movies are made. Tops my list of 2003.

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2003)

`Cold Mountain' may perhaps be the best picture of 2003. In a year of such feats as `The Station Agent' and `The Human Stain'. I think I am coming to realize, that the Civil War epic love story (sounds like it's been done before, doesn't it?) stands in a high place, maybe above those other first two.
You see, `Cold Mountain' is the type of movie that is rather hard to review, as there are aspects of the film and plot that one can't allude to without something being given away; with that I say, if you are an avid movie fan, and think you may want to see this film in any (even small) way, go see this art and experience it for yourself. Each performance in this movie fits into the larger puzzle in pieces, with supporting performers such as Natalie Portman or Donald Sutherland or Philip Seymour Hoffman playing their parts with a certain flawless, true and often brutal, beauty. And so it goes for the leads-each is simply spellbinding. I believe Nicole Kidman to be one of our time's greatest actors, and as Ada, one part of the epic (though unconventional) love story, gives a phenomenal performance; capturing an inexperienced character in love and life in the beginning pieces of the film, and taking that character on an amazing, harsh journey into real life and romance in the face of such terror, through the film's remainder. And Jude Law; I did not know he had this in him. I'd seen very good performances from him in `Road to Perdition' and even `The Talented Mr. Ripley', but as Ada's lover Inman, he blew me away. His accent, look, body language were all perfectly woven together in his character. As is also the case with Renee Zellwegger; of course, given the uneducated attitude one might attribute to a stereotypical `hillbilly' type of her character, it is not hard to see how some would think her performance strictly comic relief. But Ruby, her character, is so much more than all that. She's funny, she's honest, and she feels; she's human. A beauty character-in a beautiful ensemble.
On to the story, which has been called `uneven' by some, for reasons which include every thing to its only having one graphic strictly battle scene in the film's opening (one extremely powerful piece of cinema that effected me in a way I'm not sure I've been touched before) to Inman and Ada's relationship before the war being to brief, to the fact that Inman is a deserter, low-life, traitor of his cause. If you watch `Cold Mountain', and still think that, then I do not know what to tell you. Yes, it is about a deserter; a man who leaves the war he's fighting what is his life's love, for he yearns for life beyond the death of war and no longer wants to support anything such as the brutal ugliness of the Civil War. That is what the whole movie is about, love and life, and the pointlessness of fighting in the extreme ways of war. The story is about the people-not strictly the battle fought on the field, but of the ones fought in the soul-their love, their simplicity, their depth, their comic moments, their tragic moments; as the moments of their lives.
No other film this year has captured me into the state of emotional involvement, also. Though the film is something close to two and a half hours, to me it seemed nothing like the time. It did not seem short, but it was in no way `long'. It was a perfect piece of time during which I experienced some great, involving art. And while you have to see the film to understand the type of love story it is, I can tell you the love story had me entirely swept away (unlike Minghella's other major work "The English Patient". The final hour of the film had me, and then, I knew this was a feat of cinematic achievement regardless of the ending, and I let the film take me entirely.
The result was quite possibly one of the greatest movies I've ever seen.

I highly recommend you go see `Cold Mountain'. A standing ovation from me for director Anthony Minghella, leads Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, and Renee Zellwegger; and all those involved. Avery large, enthusiastic thumbs up.