Cold Mountain--Review

Josh and I have a slew of edited movies, so if you're in the area, feel free to borrow them. Esp this one, you can have it. Unfortunately most of the movies we've bought have been dramas that are Oscar winners or are supposedly earth shattering, but those aren't usually romantic comedies. And that happens to be the mood I'm mostly in, so we've only seen a small fraction of our movies. During the last round of purchases, we were smart enough to put in some funnies.

*General Spoiler Alert* (I won't really give it away, but you'll know how I feel about it)

The other night I was finally up for a drama, so we watched "Cold Mountain." A depressing title for a depressing movie. I'm not saying I hated it, although I'm pretty sure that's what Josh thinks I feel, because I quite liked it, until the end. It's a Civil War movie that went something like: love, war, flashback, love, war, flashback, horribleness, the end, crying. And crying.

Why did I like it then? Well, if the end just ended well, and it could have, even with all the horrible things that happened throughout the movie, it would have been worth it and I would've walked away thinking, worn out, grateful, sad, but relieved and very happy too. Lots of relief and happiness, but some crazy author out there wanted to shatter hope and happiness. Rotten I tell you.

We have a home teacher who lived through a war when he lived in Israel and he wasn't really keen on talking about it, but what he did say made it sound horrific. I asked if he can watch war movies and he became somewhat animated saying that he doesn't see the point of war movies, why would you submit yourself to sorrow and suffering when there is enough in the world already?
I had to agree with that on the ending. I still appreciated the rest of the movie, or most of it, I just don't see why after breaking my heart non-stop during it they couldn't have things come together at the end. Isn't there enough reality in life to make us sad and cry and hurt? I just don't see the point, it already included enough pain in the movie to get it across that things were hard.

Which reminds me, about the editing. So these are edited movies right? Well they took out a ton I suppose since it was rated R originally, but there was was a lot of violence still since it was about war and I had to fast forward a few times. AND, there were a couple of horrible scenes that were emotionally painful and violent, so I left during those too.

It made me despise wickedness. It reminded me of my history classes on the Civil War and it shocks me that our country could be so different, so divided, and take it to the level where they could just shoot each other down. I don't know how people fought in wars where they had to be so close to the people they killed. And on top of that, their own countrymen. It was so hard to think that most were probably generally good people and believed in their cause and to see them taking each others lives sickened me. And yet, it seemed there wasn't another way? I don't know.

But that wasn't something I had issue with in the movie, that was probably good for me to remember and think about.

I was just telling my friends on our run Saturday that I didn't like Jude Law, he always seems so snotty and if those are the characters he chooses or if that's the air he gives off in them, it's hard to think he's not a little like them (and tabloid headlines don't help). I also saw a movie that provoked a panic attack so I sort of loathed him after that. My friends liked him though and I just didn't get why, but after this movie, I think I just might.

He was believable, quite filthy and unattractive for most of the movie, not snotty, and actually really gentlemanly in his character and I was impressed he pulled it off so well. I liked Nicole Kidman in it too and her role was perfect. What I didn't like is that they were apart for most of the movie, which is just cruddy as you can see from my above pic. Here is one of the few scenes with them together.
To end on a positive note, it still moved me. See, I've written a whole bunch of stuff about a movie that probably nobody will read and I'm still writing it because it moved me. I am a sucker for passionate love stories. I'm fascinated by the Civil War. I thought it was interesting that they didn't really mention slavery so you didn't think about how they were so awful, they were just good people living their lives and it was interrupted by war.

They did such a good job showing how life changed for people during the war, so much better than history books. My books talked about how it totally changed the South, but this showed it by witnessing a few lives through it. I love that Renee Zellweger came in and saved the day with her humor, stubbornness and resourcefulness. It was a relief to have her join Kidman and have her show her some useful skills and how to survive.

I often wonder, what would I be like in that kind of situation? I think I'd have to just go in auto pilot, grab the rooster, and break it's neck and go at it in a sort of out-of-body experience. I'm just glad that I can go to the grocery store for now. And that I'm not starving generally.

Q: Do you like this movie?

Q: What do you think about my argument for happy endings with all the reality we already have?

Q: How would you like being a pioneer woman?