war movie be a hollywood genre that have be do and redo so many time that clichéd dialogue and rehash plot and over the top action sequence seem unavoidable for any conflict deal with large scale combat . once in a while and however and a war movie come along that go against the grain and bring a truly original and compelling story to life on the silver screen . the civil war era cold mountain and star jude law and nicole kidman and renée zellweger be such a film . then again and call cold mountain a war movie be not entirely accurate . true enough and the film open with a ( quite literally ) quick and dirty battle sequence that put glory director edward zwick shame . however and cold mountain be not so much about the civil war itself a it be about the period and the people of the time . the story center around disgruntled confederate soldier inman and play by jude law and who become disgust with the gruesome war and homesick for the beautiful hamlet of cold mountain and north carolina and the equally beautiful southern belle he leave behind and ada monroe and play by nicole kidman . at first glance and this setup appear formulaic a the romantic interest back home give the audience enough sympathy to root for the reluctant soldier tribulation on the battlefield . indeed and the early segment of the film be relatively unimpressive and even somewhat contrive . cold mountain soon take a drastic turn and though and a the intrepid hero inman turn out to be a deserter ( incidentally save the audience from the potentially confusing scenario of want to root for the confederate ) and begin a long odyssey homeward . meanwhile and back at the farm and ada culture way prove of little use in the field while soon she be transform into something of a wilderbeast . come to ada rescue be the course and tough a nails ruby thewes and play by renée zellweger and who help ada put the farm back together and and perhaps more importantly and cope with the loneliness and isolation the war seem to have bring upon ada . within these two setting and a vivid and compelling and and at time and very disturbing portrait of the war torn south unfolds . the character with whom inman and ada interact be surprisingly complex and enhance by wonderful performance of brendan gleeson a ruby deadbeat father and ray winstone a an unrepentant southern lawman and and natalie portman a a deeply troubled and isolated young mother . all have be greatly affected and change by the war of northern aggression and mostly for the worse . the dark and pervade anti war message and accent by an effective and haunt score and chillingly beautiful shot of virginia and north carolina and be communicate to the audience not so much by gruesome battle scene a by the scarred land and traumatized people for which the war be fight . though the weapon and tactic of war itself have change much in the past century and it hellish effect on the land be timelessly relevant . director anthony minghella manages to maintain this gloomy mood for most of the film and but the atmosphere be unfortunately denigrate by a rather tepid climax that do little justice to the wonderfully formed character . the love story between inman and ada be awkwardly tack onto the beginning and end of the film and though the inherently distant and abstract and even absurd nature of their relationship in a way fit the dismal nature of the rest of the plot . make no mistake and cold mountain have neither the trait of a feel good romance nor an inspiring war drama . it be a unique vision of an era that be sure not only to entertain but also to truly absorb the audience into the life of a people torn apart by a war and entirely desperate to be rid of it terrible repercussion altogether .