Sixty-some years after Scarlett O'Hara clutched that handful of earth and swore she would never go hungry again, another Southern belle suffers at the hands of Civil War barbarities.
Ada Monroe in "Cold Mountain" is left destitute on a farm after her minister father dies and she has to let the slaves go. She looks out over the cold, barren land and closes her eyes in misery. Slowly she intones the name of her loved one, who is at that moment fighting on a distant battlefield. Then she turns to go back inside the house and the camera lingers on the door that she closes behind her.
"Cold Mountain" is a richly hued, gorgeously lit war epic, crammed with incident and crowned with a love story. Contrary to how this sounds, the tone is ultimately more philosophical than melodramatic, marching to the tune of: war is hell, men are fools, thank God for women and their damage-control abilities.
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