Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32719 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-07-05
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 152 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Cold Mountain, freely adapted from Charles Frazier's beloved bestseller, boasts an impeccable pedigree as a respectable Civil War love story, offering everything you'd want from a romantic epic--except a resonant emotional core. Everything in this sweeping, Odyssean journey depends on believing in the instant love that ignites during a very brief encounter between genteel, city-bred preacher's daughter Ada (Nicole Kidman) and Confederate soldier Inman (Jude Law), who deserts the battlefield to return, weary and wounded, to Ada's inherited farm in the rural town of Cold Mountain, North Carolina. In an epic (but dramatically tenuous) case of absence making hearts grow fonder, Inman endures a treacherous hike fraught with danger (and populated by supporting players including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and others) while the struggling, inexperienced Ada is aided by the high-spirited Ruby (Renée Zellweger), forming a powerful farming partnership that transforms Ada into a strong, lovelorn survivor.

The film's episodic structure slightly weakens its emotional impact, and it's fairly obvious that director Anthony Minghella is striving to repeat the prestigious romanticism of his Oscar-winning hit The English Patient. For the most part it works, especially in the dynamic performances of Zellweger and Kidman, and the explosive 1864 battle of Petersburg, Virginia, is recreated with violent, percussive intensity. Those who admired Frazier's novel may regret some of the changes made in Minghella's adaptation (the ending is particularly altered), but Cold Mountain remains a high-class example of grand, old-fashioned filmmaking, boosted by star power of the highest order. --Jeff Shannon

Special Features

• Director’s commentary
  
• A Journey to Cold Mountain (making of..) (70 mins)
  
• 11 deleted scenes (20 mins)
  
• Words and music of Cold Mountain (93 mins)
  
• Sacred Harp History featurette
  
• Storyboard comparisons (11 mins)

DVD Technical Information:

• Running Time: 152 mins
  
• Region Code: 2

Synopsis
Directed by Anthony Minghella (THE ENGLISH PATIENT), this Civil War saga addresses romance, friendship, and the ravages of war--both in the field and on the home front. Far more than a simple love story, Minghella's film captures the horrors of war for both those fighting it, and for those left behind. Based on the Charles Frazier novel, this is a tale of hope, longing, redemption, second chances, and faith.
Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman) is a proper lady who accompanies her preacher father (Donald Sutherland) to Cold Mountain, North Carolina. She waits for her love, W.P. Inman (Jude Law)--a sensitive man of few words--to return from war. In the process she learns basic survival skills and finds strength from no-nonsense Ruby (Renee Zellweger), a spitfire who can work the land as well as any man. Meanwhile, wounded Inman has had enough of war and killing, and is slowly working his way back to Ada despite the perils of being a Confederate deserter. Law and Kidman are genuinely touching as two virtual strangers who invest all of their faith in each other, and Zellweger is astounding as the uncultured but compassionate Ruby. Rounding out the cast is an impressive array of actors, including Brendan Gleeson, Ray Winstone, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jack White (of the White Stripes), Kathy Baker, Giovanni Ribisi, and many others.

Customer Reviews

Great Book - Was it Ever Really Filmable?
Ostensibly Charles Frazier's epic novel should have made a great film. It is, after all an event and character filled Odyssey through civil-war torn America and a love story to boot. Eminently adaptable, such elements should be meat and drink to a film-maker of Minghella's aptitude.

But, the Cold Mountain novel was so much more than the simple sum of its elemental parts. The complexity and eventually haunting aspect of the book comes from the characters of the two main figures, Inman and Ada. These two are at once introverted and of a time of innocence unkowable to most modern audiences. Their 'romance' was awkward in a way inconceivable to a generation raised on 'Friends' and its contemporary moral tone. When Inman goes to war he and Ada do not know if they are in love, their relationship is still half forged and shadowy. Throughout the rest of the story their memories of their brief time together are but a counter-balance to the awfulness of the present. It is only the sterile and hate-laden reality of the war that makes, even the most half-formed of loves seem potentially redemptive and a promise of better things.

Inman is a deserter. This is massaged in the film where he is given the excuse of Ida's letters calling him home. In the book he has no such overt 'excuse'. He deserts because he is sickened by killing and the knowledge that he has become an adept killer. His Odyssey is towards his own innocence of youth spent on the forested slopes of Cold Mountain. Along the way he struggles to shed his killer's mantle as the landscape he travels seems inhabited by those who would kill him or other innocents; he has little scope for mercy.

In the final scenes on Cold Mountain there is, of course, the redemptive element of a love that becomes fully forged, emotionally and physically between two people who have altered much. This changes Inman. His undoubted skills as a trained killer enable him to defeat the dark forces of the Home Guard and guarantee the home he has found anew. However, he finds within himself a new mercy towards his last adversary: leading inexorably to his own, sudden death.

At one level his death seems cruel and pointless: and is. But, it is arguable that his act of mercy, born of his new love for Ada and sense of home was the act of a man alive again - albeit briefly. His truer death had been his sickness of spirit and soul as a killing machine in a world gone mad. That his (living) genes continue in the child fathered during his brief laying beside Ada, and that Cold Mountain provides a place of security for his family becomes his final redemption and legacy. A fitting enough end to a brutal Odyssey.

I'm not sure I got much of the above from the film. Without these elements it's a love story that's not very sexy and an adventure film with a hero who looks fed-up. The battle set pieces are stunning, but they're not what the book was about. Some sub-plots work well; Zelwegger is good as a feral mountain girl who takes of the role of helping Ada survive. Law and Kidman look very pretty and Nicole's nails remain beautifully manicured throughout. But, both really fail to bring any depth to characters whose essentials are well beneath the surface. Minghella has given us a film that is lavish and beautifully photographed but is ultimately like a piece of classical music played with all the wrong emphases of tone.

Maybe, we should expect no more: compex books tend to make disappointing films. Thus, Captain Corelli's Mandolin becomes a travel brochure... And yet, it can be done. Wildly unfashionable though it now may be, Gone With the Wind was a great film that faithfully recreated the character, tone and essence of a huge (albeit melodramatic) best seller. That was about the Civil War too. Ah, they don't make 'em like they used to.

The Perfect Story
Cold Mountain is by all accounts a love story. I say STORY with strongemphasis; I have seen too many films which may have quite enough love butvery little by way of story. Cold Mountain is the name of the village thatthe film focuses upon with the basic plot of the film being the varioushappenings and goings on there during the American Civil War. A greatstrength of this film is its ability to set the scene and allow theaudience's mind to fully appreciate this beautifully constructed periodpiece. The characters are equally absorbing, and the audience findthemselves really caring for their welfare. Leading characters Inman (Law)and Ada (Kidman) are wonderfully acted, giving depth to the love storybetween the two. Secondary characters are not without their charm.Zellweger gives a wonderful performance in an unusual role, providingtouching comedy at regular intervals.
The soundtrack to the film adds greatly to its atmosphere, with bluegrassfeaturing prominently, and the songs showing a wonderfully resoluteoptimism to the sorrows of the civil war. As well as featuring in thesoundtrack, Jack White (of 'The White Stripes' fame) makes his actingdebut. Although his acting ability is not on par with Kidman or Law, hepossesses the ability to convey emotion through his music at an equal ifnot greater level.
As a whole this is one of the greatest films I have seen in a long time.It is beautifully acted, has an interesting and moving story and ismasterfully approached by director Minghella. A journey in film if everthere was one, this is definitely worth the trip to the cinema.

A Mountain with a Spectacular View
This film is startlingly good.
It is beautifully structured and deeply moving. Watching it is like reading a well-written novel. It fits together perfectly and has a cast of fully rounded, engaging characters.
The ending does not disappoint. Although the film does not hold back from showing the very worst of human nature, the viewer is left with a sense of optimism. This is not the result of a cliched 'get out'. The final outcome seems inevitable and yet is so skillfully done that it is completely satisfying.


I would rate this as in the top 5 films I have ever seen.