Cold Mountain

I don't suppose there will ever be such a thing as a "feel good" Civil War film, but Cold Mountain is about as satisfying as any film I've seen on the subject. Although it touches on the heady days as war loomed when the young men were anxious to defend their ideals, most of the action falls in the last months of the war, as the Confederacy dwindled away, never admitting that for each seeming victory, the over-all result would be the same.

Opening during the siege of Petersburg, Virginia in July 1864, the film follows a Confederate soldier named Inman (Law). The story cuts between the impending battle and the pre-war meeting of Inman and Ada (Kidman), a socially adept, but completely inept young woman recently moved from Charleston to the backwoods community of Cold Mountain, North Carolina. This is a love story based on few words and only a handful of encounters, but it is enough to keep them in each other's thoughts for the long separation.

The 'Battle of the Crater' forms the film's beginning. For those who are unfamiliar with this particular military encounter, it reads like some sick comedy, but played out with men, weapons, smoke and blood, the Crater is revealed as a Union plan of brilliant conception and idiotic execution. After two months of mining beneath Petersburg's defenses and packing the space with barrels of gunpowder, Union sappers lit the fuse on the morning of July 30. The resulting explosion ripped through the Confederate defenses, burying several units. Then the Union forces waited before exploiting the breach, and when they did finally charge in, they fell into the hole that they themselves had created. For the Confederates it was like shooting fish in a barrel. For Inman, it was enough to make him wholly sick of war and determined to return to Ada, even at the risk of being shot for desertion.

Inman's journey home forms one thread of the story. Ada's life in a mountain community reveals another side of the Civil War, one not often presented in such gritty detail. Ada's skills run to playing piano and knowing the names of the rivers in France. She was brought up to be a lady, in the care of servants. Enter the tough, resourceful Ruby (Zellweger), Ada's partner, teacher, and salvation. The two women learn to survive together, manage the farm and fend off the most dangerous predators of their time -- the local "Home Guard" made up of corrupt men whose power derives from the lack of competition.

The music of the film is especially commendable. The choice of Sacred Harp hymns is brilliant. Particularly effective is the juxtaposition of harmonies in "Am I Born To Die" with the slaughter of the Crater.

If I have a criticism, it would be the use of a shiny brass flesh fork in one scene. Being well-acquainted with such forks, I know the work involved in keeping the brass bright -- not something that the situation involved would require.

The film, which is still in theatres, is based on a novel of the same name.

But beyond the entertainment, how close to the truth is it?