As a romance it stutters but it is a fabulous story of war

Rating: Null/10 (1 January 2004)

In the months before the civil war, Ada Monroe moves to Cold Mountain, North Carolina with her father and meets Inman briefly before he goes to war. They fall for each other in this brief period and she writes to him constantly. Injured in a major attack he receives a letter from her that her father is dead and she needs him to return. He steals away from the hospital despite risk of being shot as a deserter. At Cold Mountain, Ada gets the help of Ruby Thewes to run her farm and try to get by without a man.
The trailer had failed to grab me and the mixed reviews hadn't exactly got me rushing into my local cinema, however a wet and cold morning helped me decide that it was a better bet than the January sales! The film opens well with a great battle sequence that leads to flashbacks to show how Ada and Inman's romance began. At this point the film stutters because the brief interaction between the two was not strong enough to get me totally behind Inman's quest to return to her. If the whole film had relied on this then it would have been a problem - however it manages to keep moving as a story of the impact of war rather than a love story.
The two strands of this tale work well as separates and the film seems to know this and doesn't labour the romance too much during the body of the film, preferring instead to let the stories work in their own right. Towards the end the film relies heavily on the audience caring about Ada and Inman, however this just about manages to work because I cared about them as individuals even if their love was something that hadn't been made real to me.
The cast risk mockery with them having to all do accents that don't come naturally to them. Law is very strong and he holds the attention as our eyes on the story. Kidman is very good but she doesn't physically change as her emotional change would require. Zellweger was a bit full on for my tastes but her character does help liven up her side of the story. Sutherland is good and the support cast of characters met alone the road includes Winstone, Gleeson, Hoffman, Ribisi and Portman - each of who does more than simply make an `oh look it's ..' appearance.
Overall this was not as strong as it could have been because the film can't manage to develop a convincing enough bond between Inman and Ada. Without this parts of the story stutter but what works regardless is Inman's journey though a country torn apart by war and Ada's struggle of women of the time left behind by the men who went off to die.