Cold Mountain
An avalanche of despair

// The skinny: Two would be lovers are seperated by the Civil War and each faces their own hardships and they struggle to be re-united.

// Review: Who better to play the leads roles of Southern Americans than an Australian and Englishman? This movie was so depressing I had to watch Life is Beautiful afterwards to raise my spirits. Basically Jude Law's and Nicole Kidman's characters are attracted to each other but the Civil War takes him away. Kidman's father dies leaving the prissy Southern belle incapable of fending for herself as she spirals into poverty. Meanwhile Law is mortally wounded but recovers and deserts at the prompting of one of Kidman's love letters. She struggles for survival on her farm with the help of the spunky Renee Zellweger, and he is basically on the lam and starving his way back to Cold Mountain; to her.

/ The movie follows both of their stories as they claw for hope and steal small snatches of relief and happiness. People randomly die, people cruelly die, and just when you start believing in humanity something evil happens. As if the movie wasn't depressing enough, one of the deleted scenes had Natalie Portman's baby rescued, only for it to die and her to committ suicide. It's fun for the whole family.

/ The acting was excellent and Zellweger finally got her long awaited Oscar. If the purpose of the film was to portray how bleak life was during the Civil War than it suceeded smashingly. The problem with this success though is that it's hard to watch and it makes it seem like the only two kinds of people in the world are those are take advatange of people, and those who get taken advantage of. It was also sobering to see that Nicole Kidman's Batman Forever days have long sinced passed her by. Her face is looking a little busted these days.

// Wrap up: Good acting, good production value, bad entertainment. It's a tragic romance so I suspect girls will eat it up.

Entertainment rating: 2