Before the American Civil War, Pastor Meng brought his only daughter, Ida (played by Nicole Kidman), to the town of Cold Mountain in North Carolina to begin a missionary life.
Ida meets and falls in love with in-law Inman (Played by Jude Lowe), a taciturn young man who helps build the church, and after a few short avoidant conversations, Ida decides to spend her life hand in hand with Inman.
After the war, Inman and most of the town's young men were conscripted into battle. Ida kept writing to Inman about the changes in his life, his thoughts about him, and the hope that the war would end and that he would be able to return home early.
During the Battle of Petersburg, Inman's army was assaulted and he was seriously wounded and hospitalized. Waking up from a coma for many days, the nurse read a letter from as far away as North Carolina, dated months earlier.
Ida's father died suddenly in the early winter, and now she is helpless, the family's slaves have left, she lives in a big house and watches the farm go to ruin, cash runs out, she takes clothes, and her father's pocket watch goes to the grocery store in exchange for food.
The men were all on the battlefield, the old and weak women and children were left to cultivate the farmland, the harvest was limited, the supplies were gradually in short supply, Ida often could not change food, and the kind neighbor Mrs. Sally would invite Ida to a meal to save her from starvation.
The Captain of the Self-Defense Forces coveted Ida Beauty and harassed and intimidated her from time to time, and in her letter begged Inman to go home and protect her.
After recovering from his injuries, Inman felt that the battle was ridiculous, and did not want to fight anymore and decided to leave the hospital and return to the cold mountain town of Ada.
He revealed his desire to go home to the blind old man who was selling corn in the hospital, and the old man said: Deserters will be executed. Remembering Ida's loneliness and helplessness, Inman became a deserter and risked his life to embark on the road back home.
Inman bumps into a priest in the woods who attempts to drown a black maid, because the maid has an affair with him and his children, and the priest has to kill people for social status. Inman rescues the maid and hangs the priest naked on the doorstep of his house to announce his crimes.
Encountered by a bounty hunter who specializes in reporting deserters, Inman and another fellow deserter are arrested and almost die under the bullets, but fortunately the witch heals his old and new wounds and saves his life.
On a rainy night, Inman passed by a farm and asked for a night, and the hostess's window showed that there was only her and the baby in the house and could not help.
Inman wanted to spend the night under the eaves, feeling inappropriate and ready to leave, the hostess suddenly opened the door to let him into the house, provided hot soup to fill his hunger, borrowed his husband's clothes for him to change, and slept in the storage room next door.
At dawn, the hostess hurriedly woke up Inman and asked him to leave quickly, and the Northern Army came to loot supplies again. In order to force out more food, the three Northern Army tied women to pillars, stripped the sick little baby and placed it on the ground to blow cold wind, the mother was distressed, and handed over the pigs hidden in the barn, the Northern Army still did not give up, and Yingman turned around and killed two extremely bad Northern Soldiers.
Another younger Northern soldier could not bear the baby's crying, covered him with a coat to keep him warm, and the angry and aggressive woman shot and killed the soldier despite Inman's efforts.
Ada, who is guarding her home, is in the magical well of Mrs. Sally's house, and sees the figure of Inman walking towards her, and waits for her determination even more firmly. Lacking food, she does not want to rely on her neighbors to help her, preferring to starve, and Mrs. Sally introduces her to Ruby (Played by Renee Zellweger), who is a good farmer and family member, to help.
On the first day of the arrival of the mighty Ruby, the rooster that often pecked Ida and fled into the wilderness, grabbed the twisted head with one hand and cooked it for dinner.
In order to have more potatoes for the winter, Ida sold the piano, and the big lady who grew up in her father's favor could read out every river in Europe in French, and could read the books on crops written in Latin, but could not even lift the bucket. I can arrange flowers but I can't even plant flowers, and I can embroider but I can't even sew a button.
Under Ruby's training direction, Ida learned to weed and turn the soil, sow seeds to fertilize and water, nail fences, milk cows, and cook food. Read novels to Ruby at night, looking forward to the end of the war and inning to come home.
Under the slogan of catching deserters to maintain order, the Self-Defense Forces broke into houses at will to take things and kill people at will. Mrs. Sally's two sons fled home and were brutally killed by the SDF with their father, and Mrs. Sally was devastated by this blow and never spoke again.
On Christmas Eve, Ruby's father and friends were killed by the Self-Defense Forces on the grounds of harboring deserters, and Ida and Ruby went to find someone with a gun, placing Ruby's father who was seriously injured in an Indian hut, and Ida, who was ready to go home to get food, saw Inman's figure walking towards her.
Cold Mountain is a 2003 film by Anthony Minggra based on the novel of the same name written by Charles Frigger, set during the American Civil War, telling the story of a Southern soldier, Inman, and his lover Ida and Ida's friend Ruby, depicting the cruelty of war and the brilliance of humanity in the great era.
The film begins with a thrilling war scene, but ends in less than ten minutes, beginning with a two-line narrative of Ida and Inman's encounter.
The story ends in tragedy, Inman and Ida meet again as if they were in another life, after a one-night stand, the Self-Defense Forces find Ida and Ruby, in order to protect them, Inman and the Self-Defense Forces launched a chase shootout, killing the evil man himself and being shot, Ida arrived and hugged Inman and cried.
This film, which carries the banner of epic poetry, has been made into a third-rate film by a novel that is called first-rate.
Nicole Kidman is very beautiful in costume in the play, even if he is poor and hungry, digging and cutting grass, he is still beautiful in front of the camera.