’’ Dear Mr. Inman....’’
These words will be heard many times in the movie... and in the sexy alluring voice of Nicole Kidman. Now what do you expect from a movie made by a talented, dedicated director .... Anthony Minghella who gave us films like ’’the english patient’’, ’’the talented Mr. Ripley ... co producer of IRIS..... with a cast made up of Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renee Zelwegger, Ray Winstone, Natalie Portman ... etc etc ... working on a yet another good novel by Charles Frazier... the trouble is you start expecting a lot. It is very difficult to translate a Literary work into a movie... indeed it is ... thats why very few people succeed in doing it ... but those who do .. create history.
The movie is about the american Civil war saga. It is based in 1863 I guess ... the movie starts very well ... in fact a quite manner. With Rev. Veasey moving in from north carolina to this little county of cold mountain. He has a lovely and caring daughter in Ada ( nicole Kidman). So the story goes like this that Nicole kidman falls in love with Mr. Inman, the silent carpenter. How ever the romance is very short lived as the civil war breaks out and Mr. Inman has to report. What happens next is that Ada’s life begins to fall off. Her dad dies ... and she is almost reduced to penury. How she waits for her Mr. Inman is lovely. She dutifully writes him letters. She has some caring neighbours... but she lives the life in a dull manner. Now is the time when is introduced Renee zellweger. Wow .. she has given an excellent perfornance of a hard working ... low on luck village belle.
But this is the story in a nut shell ... the real deal is ... when Inman’s unit is attacked and burned to ground. He is wounded real bad, but decides to have no more of it and walk back to his home ... to his love ... his journey is very well described ... and makes up for the best part of the movie. So watch the movie for more details ... what follows in my review are the plus points of the movie.
JUDE LAW... he has potrayed the silent mr.Inman very well ... too well infact. His walking back to cold mountain is great. There is this scene which features Natalie Portman. She plays a widow with a child .. she craves a man, but is too confused and shy ... the country is facing a crisis ... and that is very well documented in this scene.. the setting is of a house thinly furnished .. running low on resources .. and very pitiable indeed. Jude law lights up the scene.
Cinematography... unique, abstract .. ... wonderful to watch ... the one scene which is a case in point is .... when Nicole Kidman looks in the well with a mirror ... she sees crows flying and figure of Mr. Inman .. that is real good work.
Attention to detail ... every thing has been taken care of ... the uniforms, the dialect, the architecture .... everything.
Cruelty of Teague ... There indeed was a Teague .. and he was reknowned for his cruelty ... this is shown well in the movie .... not the entire movie is fiction .. some of it really happened .... just for the record ... there really was a Mr. Inman .. the author admits it... teague really killed the fiddler and the retarded boy.
Dialogues ..... Dialogues were cute, short and very well timed.
Renee zellweger..... CHICAGO made the critics watch her ... this surely must have made those critics stand up and applaud. She brings colour to this movie. She plays a no nonsense girl. She indeed outshone the cast. That is where the movie went down .. when ever your supporting cast plays a more charismatic and compelling roles .... than your lead ... man you can definitely say that the movie is going down.
Why After all these plus points I mentioned am I goin to rate this product with three stars??? Well here are the cons...
The movie fails to ignite the emotions in the people ... I personally think that the pace of the movie was very slow ... the narrative just too long ... and the romance between Jude law and Nicole kidman was never shown developing. Nicole Kidman gave a good performance .. some how she managed to make the audience grow with her character. I think the movie was a bit too long. What could have been done to make the movie better .. I dont know I cant point out one thing.... The movie taken on as a whole deserves at max three stars ... but total all the individual performances .. and it deserves atleast 6 stars ! I think this was the best effort in the movie the director could have made ... my recommendation watch it atleast once .. who knows you might like it!