This movie was directed by Anthony Minghella, which starred Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Renée Zellweger. The opening scene did a great job depicting the Civil War; it really gave me a true sense of the blood and guts spilled during the war, while the smaller town scenes relayed the beauty of the home and family for which they were all fighting for. During this war a confederate soldier named Inman (Jude Law) gets injured, although I thought he should have been dead after getting shot in the jugular. Anyways, after Inman recovers he decides to run like a girl back to Ada (Nicole Kidman) who in the mean time is living with a woman named Ruby (Renee Zellweger) on a farm in the Town of Cold Mountain. While Ada is preoccupied with constantly writing to and thinking about Inman, Ruby manages to teach Ada to farm and become an independent woman. When Inman decides to journey back to Cold Mountain as he encounters slaves, bounty hunters, soldiers, witches, unexpected friends and dangerous enemies at every turn. .
I would give this two and half hour long movie a 7 out of 10, because it was too stretched out and also due to my lack of interest. I thought the beginning of the movie was fantastic. It accurately shows the trenches and war techniques used during the Civil War. The opening scene involved the union soldiers digging a hole underneath the confederate line and blows everything up with tons of explosives. After the dust settles the brawl begins. After that scene it was down hill for a while setting us up for a pre war love story between Ada and Inman, even though they had known each other for no more than a week. The best scene was the reunion between the two love birds. Once Inman returns to Cold Mountain, Ruby gets a little jealous of Ada because Inman came back for her. Since Ada was deprived from sex for the whole movie, she now gets in the mood. The camera angles and close ups were awesome, constantly at a different position every 2 or 3 seconds.
