Movie news on your iPhone today!
Advertisement
Sign in
Username   Password         Forgot password?
Wanna join? Sign up
Find movies you'll love
My People > jimbell > Blog

JimBell Blog

Cold Mountain

Under discussion:

Cold Mountain  (2003)
I never gave Cold Mountain a perfectly fair viewing, as I was ironing, folding laundry, cleaning up dishes, answering the phone, and so on. I watched it primarily because Anthony Minghella, the screen writer and director, has the rare and wonderful talent of thinking through a movie as a good novelist might. If you saw The English Patient or The Talented Mr. Ripley, you know how well a Minghella movie holds together, and if you have heard an interview with Minghella, you realize that he crafts his movies very consciously so that every detail contributes to the whole. But, even though Cold Mountain got more award nominations in Britain than any other film last year, it is still not as good as The English Patient or The Talented Mr. Ripley, and, in my view, is not particularly good, period.  People who have shared such reservations about this block-buster movie have said the problem is that Nicole Kidman is too beautiful as the minister’s erudite, cultured daughter waiting for her man to return from the Civil War, and that Jude Law, the soldier, and Kidman lack chemistry. I think neither is a big problem. Kidman must be beautiful for Law to fall for her as soon as she arrives in the isolated town of Cold Mountain. Unfortunately, Kidman becomes more beautiful as the movie progresses—the more farming she does, the more ready she is to step onto the set of a shampoo commercial. But increasing beauty is not in and of itself a problem. The problem lies with why. She is increasingly radiant in order to substantiate Minghella’s message: In the past, men like her father oppressed her, made her a well-read, cultured intellectual and a woman of high society, but now, inspired by her new and feisty female hired hand, Kidman learns practical skills and gains independence, and, thus, she is radiant. If Minghella had chosen realism over message, he would have shown her with dirt under her finger nails and been in keeping with the grisly realism of the rest of the movie. In Cold Mountain, almost every man is brutish and/or evil; almost every woman is hard-done-by and associated with nurturing. If the movie were set today, it would be blatantly sexist against men, but in the time of the American Civil War, the fighting and destruction was in fact planned and carried out by men. Thus Minghella can have it both ways: He can claim historical accuracy but also deliver his message in support of a current political agenda.  As for the lack of chemistry between Kidman and Law, this Hollywood demand annoys me. That Kidman is prudish and Law is laconic does not mean that they cannot fall in love. If Kidman had been a social butterfly and Law a smooth-talking charmer, their initial meeting would have been much more dramatic, but then such personalities would have been unlikely to endure the long separation. You can’t have it both ways. A major problem with Cold Mountain is that it is a story we’ve heard many times before: Boy and girl fall instantly in love; boy goes to war; war is brutal in battle and nearly as bad on the home front; boy and girl are finally reunited; but the tragedy of war lasts after the battles are over. Another, and more important, problem with Cold Mountain is that, as an anti-war movie, it presents a narrow view of the war. Men are stupidly slaughtering each other in various degrees of pointlessness. It would be a good idea to mention that freeing the slaves was a good thing.

posted on Wednesday, May 02, 2007 4:05 AM by JimBell


Was this review helpful? Yeah Yeah Nope Nope



Comment    Email me new comments.




Advertisement
Movies
Search movies
In theaters
Coming soon
New on DVD
Coming to DVD
Trailers
Downloads
People
Search people
Find friends
Mavens
What's a maven
Most active
Top bloggers
Top listers
Taggers
Groups
Search groups
Create a group
Genres
Discussions
Popular groups
List activity
Most movies
Most talkative
Reviews
Write a review
Spoutblog reviews
Community reviews
Maven reviews
Podcast
Subscribe
News
Lists
Hollywood
Classics
Indie
Interviews
Festivals
About us
Jobs
Advertise with us
Promote your film
Contests
SpoutNews
Newsletters
Contact us
Media contacts
Feedback
Customer care
Become a Spout tester
Yeah toast!
Privacy
Help
Site map
© 2009 Spout LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide.