I just saw 'Cold Mountian'. Here are some thoughts:

Charlie Hunnam is in it. Just when I was thinking "Now /there's/ a nice piece of ass" -- he gets his clothes blown off -- I realize he's been killed off. The pitfalls of Civil War dramas...

Kathy Baker was very, very good.

Nicole Kidman, as should be no surprise at all, uses an accent that would peel paint off a wall. Jude Law has virtually no accent at all, but to be fair, he can act. She can't. This seems a decent exchange. Oh wait. No it doesn't.

I exposed to Nicole Kidman's bosoms (amongst others) and in return I got a partial shot of Jude Law's ass. I think this underlies some of the basic themes of the film, the numbing effects of war, man's generally ugly nature, the lack of outside redemption for the soul. You get the picture.

It's been four years at least since I read the book, so I can't judge its transition from a novel into a film. (I know: Good Dramaturg, Jay!) However, it /is/ very well shot, and generally well acted (Amazonian Aussies Excepted) and in many cases very well acted. Well worth seeing.