"Cold Mountain" is the story of aConfederate soldier, Inman (Jude Law), who is trying to make his way home to ColdMountain and the woman he left behind, Ada (Nicole Kidman). The film is based onthe novel by Charles Frazier and directed by Anthony Minghella, known for hiswork on "The English Patient." The cast, the story and historicalbackdrop make it an astonishing film.

Nearly every actor is well known.Kidman and Law are joined by Renee Zellweger, Philip Seymour Hoffman, NataliePortman and Giovanni Ribisi, to name a few.

Attention to detail, however,is what makes this film so phenomenal. The set designer went backpacking throughNorth Carolina with Frazier so he could design sets that brought Frazier's proseto life. Their journey ended in Romania when they realized that filming in theUnited States would be fiscally and physically impossible.

The historicalaccuracy is incredible, but the Civil War is really just the backdrop for anintimate view of what the war was like for one soldier and a woman left athome.

Ada, recently transplanted to Cold Mountain from genteelCharlestown, battles with the reality that although she can play the piano andspeak French, she now must find a way to survive on a farm. She is helped byRuby, an independent mountain woman. Meanwhile, Inman struggles to recover from awound and deserts the army to make his way home. Along the way he encountersfriends, liars and a series of Homeric sirens, in addition to the Home Guard, agroup of men left behind to protect the various towns. In Cold Mountain's case,the guards have taken over and make daily life infinitely harder.

Theconclusion is almost predictable - Ada and Inman are reunited after years ofseparation - but a twist makes for a surprising end.

The cast of"Cold Mountain" adds warmth and sincerity to this love story, while theengaging, if sometimes violent, storyline make the film flow wonderfully. Thefilm is three hours long, but I see Oscars in itsfuture.