The late, great Anthony Minghella directed and wrote the screenplay, which is based on the book by Charles Frazier, for the epic love story Cold Mountain. Mingehlla also helmed The Talented Mr. Ripley, one of my all-time favorite films, and Cold Mountain shares many of the same qualities with that effort, including a stellar cast, incredible cinematography, superb music, and of course, outstanding writing and direction.
Cold Mountain is told in flashbacks and is set during the early days of the Civil War in North Carolina, where a preacher's daughter, Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman), falls for a carpenter, W.P. Inman (Jude Law). Their time together is short, as the war begins and Inman goes off to fight with the Confederate army. However, he is seriously injured in battle and is sent to convalesce at a military hospital. Despite his loyalty to the army, Inman is troubled by Ada's seemingly difficult plight back home, which he learns from one of her many letters that is delivered to him. As a result, he decides to desert the army and travel the long road home to be with and help his love. However, his journey is complicated by encounters with a weaselly preacher, a young woman with a sick child, and a serious illness.
Back at Cold Mountain, Ada's father, Reverend Monroe (Donald Sutherland), has passed away and she struggles with taking care of the land and making ends meet. She is determined to keep the land and soon secures the assistance of the unorthodox Ruby Thewes (Renee Zellweger), whose strength of character is exactly what Ada needs to set things right again. However, members of the Confederate Home Guard, led by Teague (Ray Winstone), make things difficult for the residents of Cold Mountain and often resort to vicious tactics to get what they want. Teague is determined to obtain Ada's land because it once belonged to his family, but she refuses to sell to him. Ruby's father, Stobrod (Brendan Gleeson), and his friends soon arrive and prove to be valuable to both Ada and Ruby, but after an altercation with Teague and his men, all of the their lives are placed in danger, as Inman slowly makes his way back.
In addition to the aforementioned actors, the cast also includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathy Baker, Eileen Atkins, Giovanni Ribisi, Emily Deschanel, Jack White, Ethan Suplee, Cillian Murphy, Natalie Portman and Charlie Hunnam. The extraordinary cast is one of the finest ever assembled for a motion picture and they conspire to make Cold Mountain one of the best films I have ever seen. As much as I enjoy watching the film, it is a reminder of the loss of Anthony Mingehlla, who I am sure had many more great projects to contribute. Minghella passed away in 2008 from a hemorrhage following cancer surgery.
The Blu-ray extras include:
Audio Commentary from Anthony Minghella
Deleted Scenes
Two featurettes; Climbing Cold Mountain and A Journey to Cold Mountain
Sacred Harp History
The Words and Music of Cold Mountain - A Royce Hall Special
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