Young actress Natalie Portman offers a strong performance as an immature mother and widow to a Confederate soldier, desperate and lonely and eventually set-upon by Union soldiers. ... The is much to enjoy in "Cold Mountain", but at two hours and thirty-five minutes long, it would have been an enormous waste of cast, crew, and studio time, energy, and money if there was not. ...

• Word Count: 793
• Approx Pages: 3