Cold Mountain is a 2003 film written and directed by
Anthony Minghella, and stars
Jude Law,
Nicole Kidman,
Renée Zellweger,
Brendan Gleeson,
Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Ray Winstone and
Natalie Portman. Musician
Jack White, and actors
Cillian Murphy,
Emily Deschanel and
Jena Malone also had small roles in the film. The film is based on the novel by
Charles Frazier. Although set in
Haywood County, North Carolina, it was filmed mostly in
Romania, with numerous scenes filmed in
Virginia,
South Carolina, and
North Carolina.
Plot
The movie opens depicting the events leading up to the
American Civil War, and proceeds to a vivid recreation of the
Battle of the Crater.
Jude Law plays a
Confederate soldier named W. P. Inman, who meets Ada (Kidman), and is at the fledgling stages of a relationship with her when he marches off to war. Inman experiences many battles and losses of friends, and as he is recovering in a hospital from a battle wound, decides to set off on foot for his home on Cold Mountain, in
North Carolina, and to the woman he loves. On his journey he meets a corrupt preacher (Hoffman), an old and wizened woman, and a young widow (Portman). Through these people, he is able to continue his journey back to Ada and finds something out about himself.