Ìý User Rating 
Cold Mountain "takes excellent actors and dunks them in romance so gloopy they drown". Indeed the reaction to Anthony Minghella's epic romance was mixed - both critically and commercially - although it did win Renée Zellweger an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. We leave you to draw your own conclusions, but there's no doubt this is epic filmmaking - as evidenced by a hefty two-disc DVD release.
The Only Way Is Up... And Then Down
The title Climbing Cold Mountain perfectly encapsulates the experience of not just making the movie, but also watching this feature-length documentary about the making of the movie. It's an exhaustive exploration of the entire process, following Minghella from scouting locations in Romania all the way to the Los Angeles premiere.
In between, the film's stars talk about finding their way into the characters, battling the weather, and how smelling like goats added to the authenticity. There is the occasional bit of waffle, though, for instance Renée Zellweger doing her usual golly-gosh gushing routine, and Jude Law explaining that, "Minghella wanted the character of Inman to be me." Good casting then...
Minghella's video diary segments work best because he talks openly and honestly about the anxieties that stem from tackling such an ambitious project. Towards the end there's more than a touch of Taxi Driver about him as he drives around London's mean streets, donning woolly hat, and muttering about the critics' reaction to the final film.
Soldiering On
The Words And Music Of Cold Mountain is another (even longer!) feature-length look at the making of the film, but with a few bluegrass ditties thrown in! It's an eclectic TV special filmed before a live audience that blends an in-depth interview with Minghella with staged readings of Charles Frazier's novel by Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, and Brendan Gleeson. It can feel overly ostentatious at times; still, it's a refreshing take on the standard, studio-produced 'making of' featurette. (If you'd prefer it, the studio-produced featurette is also included.)
Apparently the 11 deleted scenes on this disc are just a smattering of what eventually ended up on the cutting room floor. In fact Minghella has also sneaked in a few extended scenes here, including the clichéd dying soldier scene that somehow made it to the final cut in spite of its accidental comedy value.
Rounding out this package are three scene-to-storyboard comparisons; a featurette on the music of the Sacred Harp; and a mellow audio track by Anthony Minghella. Although the luvvie director spends a lot of time praising his actors, he also makes edifying points on "the folly of filmmaking" – eg fabricating trees to populate the titular mountain. Editor Walter Murch is also on hand, but he hardly gets a word in edgeways.
Like scaling a high peak, this DVD can be dizzying at times. But when it comes to insight into the filmmaking process, it's as solid as a rock.
EXTRA FEATURES
