Cold Mountain (film)

Cold Mountain is a 2003 film written and directed by Anthony Minghella, and stars Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Brendan Gleeson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ray Winstone and Natalie Portman. Musician Jack White, and actors Cillian Murphy and Jena Malone also had small roles in the film. The film is based on the novel by Charles Frazier. Although set in Haywood County, North Carolina, it was filmed mostly in the Transylvanian region of Romania.

Plot

The movie opens depicting the events leading up to the American Civil War, and proceeds to a vivid recreation of the Battle of the Crater. Jude Law plays a Confederate soldier named W. P. Inman, who meets Ada (Kidman), and is at the fledgling stages of a relationship with her when he marches off to war. Inman experiences many battles and losses of friends, and as he is recovering in a hospital from a battle wound, decides to set off on foot for his home on Cold Mountain, in North Carolina, and to the woman he loves. On his journey he meets a corrupt preacher (Hoffman), an old and wizened woman, and a young widow (Portman). Through these people, he is able to continue his journey back to Ada and finds something out about himself.

Ada is a city woman who only recently moved to the rural farm named Black Cove. Shortly after she arrives, her minister father dies, leaving her alone on the farm and with little prospect for help, as the young, able-bodied men are off at war. She is completely inept at working the farm, having been raised to become a southern lady and is struggling to survive at the farm. She manages to survive thanks to the kindness of her neighbors, one of whom eventually sends Ruby (Zellweger) to her. Ruby is a young woman who has lived a hard-scrabble life and is very adept at the tasks needed to run the farm. Ruby lives at the farm with Ada and together, they take the farm from a state of disaster to working order.

The two women form a close friendship and become each other's confidants. They also are friends with the Swangers, who live down the road from Black Cove. It is at the Swangers' well that Ada "sees" a vision of Inman coming back to her in the snow along with a flock of crows. During the war, Ada and Ruby, and other members of their community, have several tense encounters with men who are members of the Confederate Home Guard. Although the purpose of the home guard was to protect the south and its citizen population from the North, they have become violent vigilantes who hunt and often kill deserters from the Confederate army and terrorize citizens they believe are housing or helping the deserters. It is with these hunters that Inman will eventually have an inevitable show-down.

Inman eventually finds his way to Ada and Cold Mountain. They decide to marry themselves, saying that an official marriage would be silly now and a waste of time. They consummate their marriage and start their new lives together. However, the Home Guard soon finds them in the mountain, detirmined to kill Inman, as they know he's a deserter. While fighting off the hunters, Inman is shot. Ada goes to him, and finds him just as she saw in the well years earlier. He soon dies. The film ends several years later with Ada, Ruby and their families celebrating Easter. At the table there is Grace Inman, who was conceived on her parents' wedding night.

Cast

• Jude Law - W. P. Inman
• Nicole Kidman - Ada Monroe
• Renée Zellweger - Ruby Thewes
• Eileen Atkins - Maddy
• Brendan Gleeson - Stobrod Thewes
• Philip Seymour Hoffman - Reverend Veasey
• Natalie Portman - Sara
• Giovanni Ribisi - Junior
• Donald Sutherland - Reverend Monroe
• Ray Winstone - Teague
• Kathy Baker - Sally Swanger
• James Gammon - Esco Swanger
• Charlie Hunnam - Bosie
• Jack White - Georgia
• Ethan Suplee - Pangle

Academy awards and nominations

Renée Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance.

In addition, the movie was nominated for, but did not receive, the following awards:

• Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Jude Law)
• Best Achievement in Cinematography (John Seale)
• Best Achievement in Editing (Walter Murch)
• Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score (Gabriel Yared)
• Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song (for T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello for the song "The Scarlet Tide")
• Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song (for Sting for the song "You Will Be My Ain True Love")

Reception

The film was one of an increasing number of Hollywood productions made in eastern Europe. This trend is occurring as a result of much lower costs in the region; in this specific instance, Transylvania was less marked by modern life than the Appalachians (fewer power lines, telephone poles, paved roads and so on). This caused some controversy in North Carolina, although in fact an estimated 95 percent of feature films and television shows made in the state since the 1980s were set somewhere else. The film also marked a technological and industry turnaround in editing. Murch edited Cold Mountain on Apple's sub-$1000 Final Cut Pro software using off the shelf G4s. This was a leap for such a big budgeted film, where expensive Avid systems are usually the standard NLE tool. His efforts on the film were documented in the 2005 book Behind the Seen: How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple's Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema.

The film was met with generally positive reviews, receiving a 72 percent "fresh" rating on the website RottenTomatoes.com, which monitors film reviews and opinions. Many critics noted the film for its realistic portrayal of the Civil War and for elaborating on the civilian aspects of the war. However, some critics felt the film was marred by an episodic quality and a morose tone which muddled the love story. Despite the criticisms, nearly all critics were favorable towards Zellweger's performance, some even stating that she stole the film from Law and Kidman.

The film was considered a contender for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but the chance of garnering a nomination never happened, although it did earn the nomination for Best Motion Picture Drama at the Golden Globes. Despite not being nominated for the Best Picture award, the film did pick up seven nominations, and one win for Zellweger as Best Supporting Actress.

Soundtrack

''See: Cold Mountain (soundtrack).

The Cold Mountain soundtrack shares producer T Bone Burnett with the soundtrack for O Brother Where Art Thou, a largely old-time and folk album with limited radio play that still enjoyed commercial success, and garnered a Grammy. As a result, comparisons were drawn between the two albums. The Cold Mountain soundtrack, however, also employs many folk and blues elements. It features songs written by Jack White of The White Stripes (who also appeared in the film in the role of Georgia), Elvis Costello and Sting. Costello and Sting's contributions, "The Scarlet Tide" and "You Will Be My Ain True Love", were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song and featured vocals by Bluegrass singer Alison Krauss. Gabriel Yared's Oscar-nominated score is represented by four tracks amounting to approximately fifteen minutes of music.

See also

• Captain Daniel Ellis

External links

• Cold Mountain Miramax, Official site
• Cold Mountain Terra, Official site, Spanish
• Map of the area around Cold Mountain
• Cold Mountain Filmed in Virginia
• Movie stills
• An hour about the film Cold Mountain provided December 23, 2003 from Charlie Rose, added April 3, 2008

References

Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actress Renée Zellweger
Golden Globe Awards
Best Supporting Actress Renée Zellweger
BAFTA Awards
Best Supporting Actress Renée Zellweger
Best Film Music Gabriel Yared, T-Bone Burnett