Last night I went to the movies and saw 'Cold Mountain', with our very own Nicole Kidman. I have always been very interested in the social consequences of the American Civil War - a conflict which had a huge maturing effect on a young country and resounds down the decades to this day. 'Cold Mountain', though slow and rather gruesome (particularly the scenes of the underground explosion and subsequent rout at St Petersburg VA) was superb in the way it caught the desperation and social destruction of war.
I felt the movie was very thought-provoking. It showed up just how easy it is for a society to lose its checks and balances when things go badly wrong, and how some choose morality and a life of hardship and others a life of cruel opportunism. Having been in the military I know how thin is the social veneer, and how easily racial or ideological conflict can tear it apart.
Kidman was very good, I thought, acted the parson's daughter very well. And Zellweger almost stole the show with her rollicking tomboy bravado. Can't say much about Inman; thought his acting poor to be honest.
Recommended viewing.
Cheers,
Hugh
