Introduction
The essay is a critical movie analysis of Cold Mountain, a fictional film on war that was released in 2003, written and directed by Minghella Anthony. It is worth noting that the story in the movie was derived from a book (novel) written by Frazier Charles titled “Cold Mountain” (Frazier 13). The paper attempts to establish who were the intended audience, the reasons why the producer released the movie in 2003, what the film was intending to address, type of music used, degree of facts in the movie, issues of biasness if any, the positive and negative aspects of the film, historical themes of the film, and effectiveness of the film in communicating main historical ideas.
It has been noted over time that films have been used so that the targeted persons are made aware of what happened in the past. Nonetheless, the burning issue at present is the accuracy, and the degree of facts in these films (Keene et al 164). This thus lays the basis for this paper.
Movie summary
The movie focuses on Inman and Ada. The events of this film took place during the American Civil War and we are told of Inman a wounded soldier is in his way to find Ada, the love of his life. Before going into the war, Inman received a book form Ada, a daughter of a minister. Later her father died leaving Ada to run the family property (‘Cold Mountain’). Although she had no experience, Inman memories kept her going. Later Ruby joined Ada and became business partners with Ada.
At the war, Inman saw his friends being killed brutally for no apparent reason, forcing him to desert. He is not rescued while he was on his way back to the Cold Mountain. Long journey and tough life met Inman, but the memories he held for Ada, was enough to make him struggling and persevere. The two later met and made love, this resulted to a child Grace. Ada’s partners married George. Inman was later shot dead by a Bosie (Frazier 43).
Movie analysis
The target audience is not only all American, but those individuals who fancy going into wars with their neighbors as well as other countries. It will give them a chance to see the impact of war. To make the movie appealing, the cinematography did it all, the incorporation of Appalachian geographic features as well as the music used made the movie very captivative. Additionally, the characters especially Zellweger performed in an extra ordinary manner that will make the present generation get glued to the screen.
It is worth to note that the narrative comes from the view point of Ada; this generally symbolizes the entire women whose lovers have gone to war, leaving them with the fears of not seeing them again as well as other suffering they encounter in life. The music used in the film included traditional and love songs for instance the scarlet tide, Great High Mountain, I wish my baby was born, sitting on top of the world, Idumea among others. Some of these music track dates back to 18th centaury, and they still seem modern as it associates with what is happening at present.
The movies has a higher degree of accuracy in fact, however, there are incidences for instance when Appalachian Mountains shots were incorporated in the film. Jagged peaks are clearly shown but the truth is that Mountain in Eastern U.S.A does not have such kind of peaks. Indeed the mountains are Romanian. Additionally, the scene where a crow (a grey and black hooded crow) is shown, is contradictory because where the story was set, this kind of bad is not known to inhabit the region (Frazier 21).
The main themes in the movie is the meaninglessness of war, what war brings with it are a myriad of negative impact, death, suffering of innocent person, rape, harassment, loneliness. Other major aspects include endurance, desire for home, human link to earth, transformation of life as a result of war, danger of solitude (Keenee et al 231). All these are among the historical themes studied in class.
In my opinion, these themes were accurately portrayed. For instance, the reason behind Inman seeking to go back and desert the war was that his friends and innocent individuals died fro reason they did not understand. Additionally, the struggle the two characters make to meet each other signifies the effect of being separated by war, “Dear Mr. Inman, I began by counting the days, then the months. I don’t count on anything anymore except the hope that you will return, and the silent fear that in the years since we saw each other, this war, this awful war…” (‘Cold Mountain’)
I believe the movie was produced in 2003 to convey a strong message to the then America government as it was preparing to go to war with Iraq. The message was simple and clear; it will bring negative impacts to the innocent citizens as well as lose of life of American soldiers.
Conclusion
From the movie analysis, the producer did manage to effective communicate the main ideas through the talented character as well as use of geographic scenes. The main themes are negative impacts of war, endurance, desire for home and harassment of women. On the same note the movie carries with it a lot in terms of entertainment, the music, the landscape all make one feel entertained. I thus recommend the film but not to children as there are some scenes that are disturbing.
Works cited
Keene, Jennifer et al. Visions of America: A History of the United States. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print
‘Cold Mountain’. Dir. Minghella Anthony. Prod. Berger, A, Horberg, W, Pollack, S & Yerxa, R. Videocassette. Miramax Films, 2003.
Frazier, Charles. Cold Mountain. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997. Print