Cold Mountain | Review

Jude Law wears out his soul and the soles of his shoes in visually eye-grabbing spiritual adventure.

With The English Patient writer-director Anthony Minghella not only made one quarter very profitable for tissue makers, but he also gave a sense as to what lengths the human spirit is willing to travel when love is at stake. Four years after The Talented Mr. Ripley, Minghella brings yet another book adaptation to the screen, this time Charles Frazier’s best-selling Civil War novel which will easily set itself apart for the rest of the Christmas slate with the film’s power house cast of A-list talent. But besides the big names, what sets this film apart is the film’s hypnotically beautiful visuals lensed by Minghella film regular John Seale who clutches the richness of the four season colored terrains, and from out of all the places by way of a country called Romania?

In the season of epics, this one stands apart because of the life of the story which sees the narrative split between these two separate journeys both guided by hope, black and white portraits and a sense of self-awareness which are put to the test by antagonistic forces. While the film see-saws itself between a sense of hope and despair, it is the extreme conditions which affects the balance of the characters thus becoming the ultimate test for the heart.

The voyage back to Cold Mountain is one treacherous journey for one wounded deserter named Inman (Jude Law – Road to Perdition) who decides to change his fate as a solider trading his foreseeable future of a couple of meters deep in the ground for the warm embrace of someone who represents home. In his first leading role Law delivers an emotionally driven performance, his bearded, injured facial experiences display the lengths of his character’s determination. The film sees Inman’s journey intersect with the good and the ugly as in the redneck (Giovanni Ribisi – Lost in Translation), a minister with a fertile lifestyle (Philip Seymour Hoffman – Owning Mahowny) and a poignant and rather touching encounter with a widow in (Natalie Portman – Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones ) who gives a touching insight to the period’s notion of despair. Nicole Kidman (The Human Stain) delivers yet again another solid performance, aided by the delicious tom-boyish survivalist charms of Ruby played by the spunky Renee Zellweger (Down With Love)

. Nicole’s Ada undergoes a transformation from prissy-looking and polite to a gun-toting, stand-your-ground type of persona.

Appearances are deceiving in this picture, much like The English Patient this is a film set during the war, and while a sense of the violent savagery is felt throughout the film it is easily toppled over by this touch of romanticism. Also misleading is Ada and Inman’s relationship which hardly feels developed enough to merit this ‘dying love’ attention, but it’s the film’s constant reference to their exchanged portraits that feeds each of the character’s hopes and thus redefines the notion of what “home” means.

The production design eloquently captures the look of the period, whereas the attention to detail is apparent in the costume design and the locations settings of the backwoods, the swamps and the snowy winter land. The cinematography carries the complicated emotional distress of the war with a bloodbath of colors from the red mud and the blistering orange skyline during one of the film’s opening sequences. The score supplied by Gabriel Yared (a Minghella regular) does more than contribute; it inspires the perils of the film’s main protagonist.

For music fans there is also a guest appearance from White Stripes lead singer Jack White who courts Renee in both in reel life and real life. Cold Mountain is a great follow-up to those who loved The English Patient and becomes a film that finally showcases Law as a strong leading film character. This might be an emotionally heavier affair than the likes of ( The Last Samurai ) and as a love story is for the mature crowd.

Rating 3.5 stars