Stars: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Natalie Portman, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Giovanni Ribisi, Brendan Gleeson, Charlie Hunnam, Ray Winstone, Donald Sutherland, Jena Malone, Eileen Atkins, Kathy Baker, Lucas Black, Emily Deschanel, James Rebhorn, Jack White

Director: Anthony Minghella

Summary: Based on the novel by Charles Frazier, this drama tells the story of a couple who are in love but are separated by the American Civil War. Ada is left to cope with life in the wilderness. Following the death of her father and her lover's absence she is saved by the arrival of Ruby, a traveller. Mean while Inman, her lover, deserts his post in the Confederate Army and begins an eventful journey back home.

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.

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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 Mountainremains a high-class example of grand, old-fashioned filmmaking, boosted by star power of the highest order. --Jeff Shannon

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Featurette - 1. Making Of, 2. Visual & Special Effects - Open Scene, Deleted Scenes, Theatrical Trailer, Production Notes
Year:	2003
Release Date:	July 5, 2004
Runtime:	152 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B E D 881258
Keywords:	Two, Mountain, General, Cold, Charles, Frazier, Drama, Period, Discs
Genre:	Drama