Review of Cold Mountain (2003) by Harry W — 17 Jun 2014

Cold Mountain is interesting because it focuses on three characters while telling a story about the civil war as well as the society that people lived in during the time period of it.

Cold Mountain doesn't focus on the civil war as much as you might presume. It is largely focused on how it affects characters who are brought together in the wake of it all. Its story might not be fully consistent with interesting dynamics, but the characters are terrific because they are written to be versatile, deep and meaningful which means that they are able to carry the themes of humanity in Cold Mountain to the end of the story. It is a long film and has a lot of ground to cover while not always feeling as if it is capitalising on its potential or depicting the true epic nature of the civil war since the focus is more on people outside the war than on the war itself, but as a whole I found that I enjoyed it.

Visually, Cold Mountain is absolutely beautiful. I mean it is just exceptional. Director Anthony Minghella manages to capture the lush beauty of many Romanian countrysides. It shows off the land while it brooms with green life, as well as during the snowy seasons. Everything just looks purely beautiful, and it is filmed with excellent cinematography which captures the large scale of things and emphasises all the true beauty in things. The versatile and beautiful colour In Cold Mountain is just excellent, and it gives the film a perfect visual plane to start off with, which is great because on top of that the filmmakers just get better by implementing in excellent costumes, terrific art direction and again they captured it all with magnificent cinematography. Cold Mountain managed to put its budget into the best possible places, and it made up for many of its flaws and rendered it an unforgettable experience, and with an emotionally powerful musical score it is an atmospheric treat for the eyes and the ears.

Like I said, I didn't find the story in Cold Mountain to be the most consistently interesting and it moved at a fairly slow pace over the course of its long 154 minute running time, but the fact is that the script found ways to keep things interesting. Cold Mountain was an ambitious film which had a big scale feeling to it, yet at heart it was a character drama and it was full of characters that were well written, deep and chock full of intelligent dialogue. Cold Mountain stays true to its source material and brings it to life, as it does with the characters, and it therefore gives the actors a lot to work with. So the spirit of director Anthony Mighella is one of the most admirable and essential assets to the success of the film, and the fact that he did not get nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director is a serious shame because his treatment of the script, his handling of the film's visual elements and the fact that he directed his cast to great success is just excellent.

The cast is Cold Mountain also prove to be essential to the film's success, and they keep the humanity of the film alive from start to finish.

Although Nicole Kidman is an actress I have mixed feelings about, there is no denying the strength of her performance in Cold Mountain. She has a lot of true passion for the part and has no reserves about showing it off because the role is one of the best she can play. She has a talent for playing troubled women, and in Cold Mountain she plays one with maximum dedication and does it really well. Her line delivery has a lot of energy in it because she is dedicated to proving herself to the other actors and the audiences with the endeavour of her acting skill, and she succeeds at doing it in Cold Mountain because she takes on the part of Ada Monroe with serious passion and uses her skills to create a convincing romantic chemistry with Jude Law and an effective and enjoyable friendship with Renee Zellwegger. Nicole Kidman's way of interacting with the other cast members in Cold Mountain makes it feel genuine, and it is one of her finest performances I have ever seen.

Renee Zellweger proved in Bridget Jones' Diary that she has a talent for doing accents, but in Cold Mountain she really steps it up to the next level and puts all of her acting skills into the role of the strong and independent southern woman Ruby Thewes, and a simplified explanation of the result is saying that she ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role. Renee Zellweger is largely about portraying strong women, but in movies such as Chicago or Bridget Jones' Diary she ends up reliant on other characters to keep her supported. In Cold Mountain, it is her job to support someone else, Nicole Kidman's character, and she does it really well. Once viewers adjust to her screen presence, they find her stealing their attention with her emotional passion in the part and the edgy line delivery she gives to the role, and it is all solidly impressive. Renee Zellweger is just perfect in Cold Mountain, and the quality of her performance gives me an all new respect for her simply because of just how strong she is as the character. She makes the actors look even better by giving them opportunities to have complicated interactions with her, and so she is a serious treat in Cold Mountain.

Jude Law is also excellent. Although I feel that he could have used more screen time, the quality of his voice articulation is top shape and his intergration of physical emotions into his performance is powerful. He is a very sympathetic and compelling lead performance, and he plays a lot of things well such as a romantic, a war hero and a genuinely troubled man. Jude Law gives a powerful effort in Cold Mountain and really shows off the endeavour of his acting ability by gripping his role with emotional tenacity. Jude Law proves what being a great actor is all about in Cold Mountain.

So although Cold Mountain doesn't have a perfect story and is a long film, the characters are written well and acted perfectly, and as a visual experience, Cold Mountain is just refreshing.