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The acting is full of satisfactions and surprises. Law has movie-star musk and the craft to fill his peasant garb with a heroic sensitivity. Kidman seems uncomfortable early on, but she takes strength from Ada's plight and grows steadily, literally luminous. Her sculptural pallor gives way to warm radiance in the firelight. Portman lends a tender ferocity to the widow aching for the presence--the memory, really--of a good man's body next to hers. As for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, voting is now officially closed; Zellweger should take it by acclamation.
Early in the film, Ada's father tells her, "I lost your mother after 22 months of marriage. It was enough for a lifetime." The feeling this movie engenders could last a while too. For Cold Mountain, no less than The Lord of the Rings, is a grand and poignant movie epic about what is lost in war and what's worth saving in life. It is also a rare blend of purity and maturity--the year's most rapturous love story.
--By Richard Corliss