Unlikely Plot Elements and Cynical Trite Ending

Rating: 3/10 (1 February 2007)

This is my first comment on an IMDb page. Interesting idea. I suppose it is possible to be a "spoiler" for a three yr old film, so be warned. In fact I won't rent or see a film without knowing beforehand if the plot and acting are plausible. There is nothing particularly surprising or startling about film plot twits because most of them are taken from previous works or are a contrivance that contradicts logic. My purpose in reading literature and viewing movies is to see if authors and directors can extract accurate lessons from reality or history and apply them in a rational yet artistic ways as a means of teaching life lessons, reflecting in some believable way the ironies of fate.
Mr. Minghella and his Editor cut this film up quite badly and left a lot of speculation hanging in mid air. Yes I'm going to have to read the novel to find what the author intended.
The scene of the attack by Teague and Home Guard on the Swangers left me baffled. What all these location people, dialecticians, stunt men, historians and advisers don't know about North Carolinians could fill another book. Perhaps it is unwise to contradict a determined director when he has a specific story in mind.
Five known enemies on horseback do not openly approach a mountain home occupied by three men (southern boys are men at 12yrs in that time), all armed and probably very well armed with "souvenir" battlefield pickups of the period. They boys would have brought home their muskets at the very least. Teague's marauders would have had to attack by stealth at night to gain sway over the Swanger household and even they they would have lost one or two men. An open approach in daylight would have ended their careers as "guardsmen", with perhaps one or two wounded and soon dispatched. That entire scene is nonsensical in the way it played out and spoiled the movie for me from that point on. Imagine four guns hidden and barricaded against five in the open. Wow! What a short film that was.
The final denouement at Cold Mountain with the death of Inman was equally disappointing. This is a silly ending that says Inman learned nothing with all his battle experience and in fact forgot the lessons learned in dealing with Teague a few moments before. In fact this is exactly the kind of false moral that ideologues frequently inject into fiction, making it non-believable. When you chase down a man on horseback you need not catch up right away, especially tracking in snow. Let him tire out a while. Firstly you pick up Teague's repeating Spencer rifle, not a revolver with only one or two shots left. Then get into a position to shoot the horse out from under the fleeing murderer. Then wound him from long range repeatedly. Then leave him to freeze. Nature is your ally in this case. Mingella's notion that you negotiate with a ruthless torturer and try to convince him to go home peacefully after committing mass murder is plainly idiotic. This story should have had a happy ending with good triumphant over evil.
In fact it is standard repetitive nauseating practice for screen writers to engage in amateur psychological (crackpot Freudian) speculation that war ruins men and violence even in the name of freedom and decency is inherently evil. Experience and history teaches us differently yet the beat goes on.
I think a masterful film with much more authentic sensibilities could have been made from this material. Imagine having to construct a town in Romania. What was that about? There are no unspoiled wilderness scenes in the south? I lived for several years in Kentucky and Tennessee. Georgia and Alabama as well. I have hunted and hiked over the Smokies and traveled across both states extensively. There are hundreds of thousands of unspoiled acres of land and many very authentic ancient villages, cabins and farms scattered all over the South. Civil War reenactors abound all over the South. Men who would gladly volunteer to help make an authentic film.
Many of these kinds of logistical location decisions, such as travel to Romania to "rent the army", are made as much for travel and vacation opportunities and social opportunities as much as budget considerations.
Well, that's all I have to say about this until I read the original novel and find out what the author really had in mind.
Will