| Cold Mountain | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Anthony Minghella |
| Produced by | Albert Berger William Horberg Sydney Pollack Ron Yerxa |
| Written by | Anthony Minghella Charles Frazier (Book) |
| Starring | Jude Law Nicole Kidman Renée Zellweger |
| Music by | Gabriel Yared |
| Cinematography | John Seale |
| Editing by | Walter Murch |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | December 25, 2003 |
| Running time | 154 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $79 million |
| Box office | $173,013,509[1] |
Cold Mountain is a 2003 war drama film written and directed by Anthony Minghella. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Charles Frazier. It stars Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger in lead roles as well as Natalie Portman, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Melora Walters, Jena Malone, and Giovanni Ribisi.
The film tells the story of a wounded deserter from the Confederate army close to the end of the American Civil War who is on his way to return to the love of his life, Ada Monroe.
Cold Mountain opened to great reviews from critics and won several major awards. It was also a success at the box office and became a sleeper hit grossing more than double its budget worldwide.
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The story is told in a series of flashbacks from the viewpoint of W. P. Inman (Jude Law), a quiet man from a provincial North Carolina town. He meets Ada (Nicole Kidman), the new preacher's daughter. However, as their relationship begins to develop, the Civil War begins and Inman is compelled to join the fray.
The film opens in July 1864 at the Siege of Petersburg. After suffering a serious wound, Inman is sent to a Confederate military hospital where he recovers alongside other soldiers who, like himself, have become disaffected by the prolonged and horrifically destructive war. As he faces the inevitability of being sent back to the war, and after receiving a letter from Ada imploring him to return home to Cold Mountain, he decides to desert the army and sets off in the night to make the perilous journey home.
Inman's journey to return to Ada is wrought with danger and unexpected encounters with other desperate individuals, some treacherous and some sympathetic. He faces starvation, extreme weather, and the constant harassment of the ruthless Confederate Home Guard, led by the vicious Teague (Ray Winstone), sent to track down deserters. He is at times aided in his journey by strangers equally affected by the horrors of war.
As Inman journeys home, Ada is left destitute and desperate back at Cold Mountain after the death of her father. She is aided by a young woman named Ruby Thewes (Renee Zellweger) who is determined to help Ada and her farm at Black Cove survive through the worsening conditions of the war-ravaged South. Ruby is reunited with her estranged fiddle-playing deserter father, Stobrod, whose return threatens to bring disaster to Black Cove.
The film alternates between Inman's epic journey and Ada's trials at Cold Mountain, while telling through flashbacks the story of Ada and Inman's brief love affair before the war tore them apart.
The film was nominated for 74 awards including 7 Academy Award nominations. Renée Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in the film.
In addition, the movie was nominated for the following Academy Awards:
Cold Mountain, where the film is set, is a real mountain located within the Pisgah National Forest, Haywood County, North Carolina. However, it was filmed mostly in Romania, with numerous scenes filmed in Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The film was one of an increasing number of Hollywood productions made in eastern Europe. This is occurring as a result of much lower costs in the region; and in this specific instance, Transylvania was less marked by modern life than the Appalachians (fewer power lines, electric poles, paved roads and so on).
The film also marked a technological and industry turnaround in editing. Walter 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 editing system. 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.[3]
Cold Mountain was met with overall positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a grade of 71% "Fresh" from critics and a 90% from the "Cream of the Crop" as well.[4] On Metacritic, the film received a grade of 73 out of 100 points possible based on 42 generally favorable reviews.[5]
Popular film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four possible, noting that "It evokes a backwater of the Civil War with rare beauty, and lights up with an assortment of colorful supporting characters."[6] Richard Corliss, film critic for TIME magazine, went even further giving the film a 100 points out of 100 possible calling the film "A grand and poignant movie epic about what is lost in war and what's worth saving in life. It is also a rare blend of purity and maturity—the year's most rapturous love story."
Cold Mountain: Music from the Motion Picture 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 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.
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