I saw Cold Mountain in another of these small French cinemas, with less about 60 seats or so and a screen less than a quarter the size of the smallest at Indooroopilly, which is still disconcerting for me, especially since I would have thought that Cold Mountain would be a pretty big release. Anyway, I got over it pretty quickly, and basically enjoyed the film. Its a really pretty film, particularly shots of the valley, both in summer and winter. Its epic also in its scope, but does not feel too long despite running two and half hours. Miramax has been trumpeting it for Oscars, and they probably have a reasonable case for nominations for cinematography, adapted screenplay and perhaps for Renee Zellweger, who puts in a good supporting turn as the rough-edged Ruby Thewes. However, Nicole Kidman have both done much better work, and I felt their accents were sometime uneven, with Nicole in particular slipping back to 'Strine from time to time. Philip Seymour Hoffman is, as he often is, very good as a minister with flexible morals. As for the plot, its fairly predictable at times, but that doesn't matter, and it shies away from the really happy Hollywood ending, as I imagine would have been dictated by the book, although it still winds up a little too cotton-candy for my tastes, with a number of people being shot but surviving. Actually, in general, the marksmen of this film are very accurate, but seem to be equipped with weapons incapable of killing people - almost every significant character barring Kidman's is shot and survives, and one of them twice.