Cold Mountain

 

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

 

Cold Mountain (2003) has its roots in Homer’s The Odyssey, which also has a hero returning from a war to a woman he loves. In the film, however, the soldier quits the struggle before it’s over out of disgust for the horror that comes from the massive scale of violence and atrocities. The tale shows how engaging in warfare destroys the barrier of civility and decency erected to keep out reprehensible behavior which bursts in on either side of the conflict. It is also a story of female empowerment while male aggression rages.

 

The film, which jumps back and forth in time and between parallel plots, starts with a voice-over as Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman), recites a letter to the man she loves, Inman (Jude Law), about how it has been years since they have seen each other. She expresses her fears about how this “awful” Civil War may have changed things irreparably. But she has not given up hope, so her resilience is intact despite the dire circumstances. She speaks her words while there is an image of water gently flowing, suggesting the distance between them, but also the continuous, inevitable flow of time that has passed which they could not share together. 

 

The film is at the end of the Civil War when Northern troops are placing explosives underground at the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia in July, 1864. Southern troops inside their fort are on edge as they wonder when the Union soldiers will attack. The Southern men prepare coffins for the dead, showing the heavy tragic cost of the war. Inman is one of the Confederate soldiers and he receives the letter from Ada with her tintype picture. She alludes to what was left unsaid between them, which hints at their reticence when they first met. 

 

As numerous Union soldiers wait to attack as the fuse is lit to set off the explosions, a rabbit, displaced by the subterranean excavation by the men from the North, runs through the Southern trenches. The Confederate soldiers see the creature as food and chase after it. Inman smiles, because it seems like a humorous incident, but the animal, ironically, is a harbinger of catastrophe. 

 

Ada’s narration brings us back in time to when she arrived in Cold Mountain, North Carolina with her father, Reverend Monroe (Donald Sutherland). They came from Charleston, which she hated because it was “a world of slaves and corsets,” which indicates her feeling of being liberated by the move. But, she felt “out of place” in her new home. At that time Inman did carpentry work, helping to build a chapel for the Reverend, its religious nature contrasting with the workers’ conversation about the war. Some men have no problem fighting against what they see as Northern aggression. Others protest, saying they would be “fightin’ for a rich man’s slave,” that is, risking their lives for the wealthy. The Reverend shows up at the site with Ada, and the men comment on Ada’s beauty among themselves. Inman’s admiration of her is obvious, but he has the discretion to keep it to himself. Sally Swanger (Kathy Baker) asks Ada how she is finding Cold Mountain (the name of the place is not very inviting, but also, according to IMDb, it represents a spiritual place in Chinese poetry). After Ada says the area is beautiful, Sally says Ada could use her own beauty to get one of the admiring men to help clear Sally’s field. Sally singles out the usually quiet Inman, who has been asking about Ada. Despite the seriousness of the movie’s topic, there is humor in the film. For example, Ada brings the men some cider, and when she repeats Inman’s name after he tells her it, he says, “repeatin’ a thing doesn’t improve it.” His response and his reply that what he does is “work wood. Hunt. Mostly work wood,” emphasizes how he is a man of few words. Law’s ability to use his facial expressions to convey deep feelings despite the lack of dialogue is impressive. Even when she gives him an opening to become familiar by asking if he has something to say to her, he defers. These two seem to see themselves standing outside the society in which they live, which draws them together. 

 

The story jumps back to Petersburg where Inman excavates himself (being born again, getting a second chance?) from the rubble that buried him after the explosion. He reaches for Ada’s photograph as the soundtrack plays a song that talks of going to find one’s “true love,” which is the central plot line of the movie. The area is in flames and the air is filled with ash and dust, with bodies on the ground. It looks like a hell on earth, which is what war is. The infernal metaphor is perpetuated by the fact that when the Union soldiers attack they ironically wind up in the huge crater that the explosive created, and the Confederate men realize their enemy has “dug their own graves.” They call it a “turkey shoot” as they fire into the huge pit. Inman tries to save the youngest among them, Oakley (Lucas Black), and jumps into the crater, hoping to prevent the youth from having his otherwise long life cut short. But, a Northern soldier stabs Oakley, and as he dies he tells Inman he will get back to Cold Mountain before him, suggesting that the only way to return home is through the spirit after the body releases it in death. The scene after the battle is horrific, with bodies piled high.

 

There is a shift back to Inman clearing Sally’s field, and Ada happens by without even realizing Inman agreed to do the job. When Sally asks if men are different in Charleston, Ada says she does not know. Ada obviously has little romantic experience. Sally says if Ada likes Inman she should at least say good morning to him, but her response is that she must be on her way. This time period is very different from our own, as men and women now are much more forthright about amorous desires. The restraint between these two is excruciating to them since they obviously are very attracted to each other. There is a shot of Ada transporting her piano and playing the instrument as she passes by Inman in the field. The scene suggests that these two should be joined in loving harmony.

 At the Monroe home there is a party to show the community that the Reverend and his daughter are grateful for the chapel. Ada’s father talks highly of his daughter after she plays the piano for the guests. Inman is in the rain, outside, looking through a window, yearning for Ada, but physically and socially cut off from her. A large, scruffy man rudely enters and passes by the Reverend while he talks and grabs a glass of liquor. The Reverend learns that the man’s name is Teague (Ray Winstone), and that his family once owned much of Cold Mountain, and wanted the land that the Reverend acquired. Teague is looking for a way to get the farm for himself. Inman is soaking wet and feels embarrassed to go inside, even though Ada is welcoming, pointing out there is a warm fire blazing in the fireplace. Could this be metaphorical language for the heat she feels for him beneath the surface? As we already know she hates slavery, and was carrying root beer glasses on a tray to the “Negroes.” She found out that he enlisted in the army, and his response is that if there is a war they will all have to fight. For him, as a Southern man, it seems inevitable that he will have to be a soldier. But she is angry, and is sarcastic about the male desire to go into combat, asking if Inman’s ego made him take a photograph of himself in his uniform and gun. He sees that she is mocking him. For him, words are useless to describe how he aches for her, and says trying to say how he feels is as impossible as describing the intricacies of the color of the sky or “the way a hawk flies.” His few words are poetic. She says she understands, and he joins her generosity by offering to bring the tray to the slaves. 

 

We again have Ada’s narration of one of her letters to Inman where she states that she dreads hearing news of his death. It has been three years since he left to fight in the war, and she wants to reassure him that, despite his insecurity about her remembering him, she still is waiting for his return. Inman and other men from Cold Mountain are sent on a dangerous night mission to shoot some Yankee soldiers who are waiting to attack the next day. Inman’s comrades are killed by friendly fire and Inman is severely wounded, which shows one can't even trust the side he is fighting on to not harm a soldier. The story reverts to Inman and Ada in the chapel just before it officially opens. There is a dove inside and he says that it is a symbol of good luck, which in this story, does not turn out to be true. Later he brings his father’s sheet music to the Monroes, but again feels shy and unworthy to accept an invitation to enter the house, and thus become familiar with Ada. But she is understanding and saves him from his reluctance by saying they should all go for a walk instead. 

 

The Reverend says he was advised to move to Cold Mountain for the fresh air for his ailing lungs (which of course is a foreshadowing), but he says it's the beauty of the place that is healing. Inman offers that to save the place is the reason they are going into combat. The Reverend says he will not preach in favor of war in his church, and he agrees with Inman, who then wisely says that God probably is tired of being invoked on both sides of a conflict. He states that his father played the piano (another reason that he is fond of the musical Ada) and was a teacher, but both of his parents are deceased. There is a nice transitional shot of Ada looking out the window of the house hearing Inman’s words as she smiles and remembers that walk and holds the sheet music and a photograph of him he gave her. 

 

A flashback of a church service follows, and it is ironically interrupted by reports that the South has seceded from the nation, the opposite of the “good news” in the Bible. This information empties the chapel, signifying a retreat from spirituality, as young men cheer, “We got our war!” They think that the fight will be a heroic affirmation of their manhood and their system of slavery. Ada knows better as her look shows apprehension. Inman smiles as the enthusiastic men grab him, but then he observes Ada’s disapproval, which affects him. Teague shows up and threatens anyone who approves of President Abraham Lincoln and abolition. Inman challenges his authority to make such a proclamation. But Teague was preparing for this day, and he has obtained the title of Captain of the Home Guard, and states, “I’m the law from today,” which is a dire fact given the immorality of the man. He says he will be staying behind to “watch over your sweethearts,” an extremely distasteful prospect. Inman, after hearing Teague’s words, is concerned about Ada’s well-being, since she, as a beautiful woman, might be harassed, and she is opposed to the war. He urges her to go back to Charleston. But she says who will be there to wait for him, as she finally announces her strong feelings for Inman.

 

Ada goes to where Inman is staying as he prepares to leave for his military service. He is bare from the waist up and quickly closes the door out of decorum. Ada, aroused and feeling guilty about her arousal, looks confused and starts to walk away from temptation. He catches her before she leaves and she gives him a book and a picture of herself. She notes she isn’t smiling in it because she doesn’t know how “to hold a smile.” Her statement reveals a sadness in her life, probably due to the loss of her mother and her father’s illness, and possibly a longing for happiness which Inman might be able to fulfill. As a parade takes place to send the men off in a naïve flourish of glory, Inman and Ada kiss goodbye with such passion it sends them to their knees. She tells him she will wait for him and it is heartbreaking to see how reluctant he is to leave her and risk never seeing her again.

 

We then shift to Inman suffering from his wounds in a military hospital uttering “Cold Mountain,” thinking of home at the same time Ada tells her father that even though very few words were spoken between herself and Inman, she thinks of him “all the time,” so strong is the chemistry between them. He understands because he was married a short time to her mother, but “it was enough to fill a life.” His words stress the quality not the quantity of the time spent between two people in love. 

 

Ada notes the toll of the war on those left behind as the men went off to fight. She says their food supply is dwindling, “with no one left to work this place, nothing to buy, nothing left to buy with.” She later notes in a letter to Inman that the war “is lost on the battlefield and is being lost twice over by those who stayed behind.” The Reverend is sorry he didn’t prepare Ada for dealing with domestic problems and having brought her to Cold Mountain, but she loves her father and is devoted to him. In another contrasting scene, Ada plays the piano for her father as he prepares a sermon, but rain starts to fall, undermining the peaceful moment, and Ada plays a discordant note as she realizes that her father has died. 

 

Inman, still bedridden, receives a letter that is several months old from Ada who tells of the loss of her father and the deaths reported of many men in the war. Not knowing of his poor state of health, she wonders why he has not written, which shows her fear concerning his well-being. As her words are narrated, the film reveals her anxiety as she looks at the listings and photos of those who have died in battle. Teague visits her as she sits in the chapel and says Inman isn’t coming back, and offers himself as a substitute, which despite his protestations to the contrary, is a terrible alternative. Ada admits that she is at “her wits end,” and is “alone” and does not like taking assistance from others who also are suffering. The dire straits she is trying to navigate through are daunting. Sally arrives with her husband, Esco Swanger (James Gammon), who observes how pitiful Ada’s place looks, and Sally notes that Ada has freed the slaves that helped work her land, which shows how she could show her sympathy for the abolitionist cause once given the opportunity. The Swangers leave some food on her doorstep since Ada is too embarrassed to receive them. She does chores in the snow-covered winter and her letter urges Inman to stop marching and fighting and come back to her, because her only hope rests with seeing him again. 

 

Inman is on his feet again and encounters a man (Tom Aldredge) who has been blind since birth, who tells Inman that he shouldn’t be in a hurry to get back to fighting since the South is losing. Inman asks what he would give for ten minutes of sight. The man basically says that short of a time would only make the pain of losing something so valued be worse than not having it at all. Inman disagrees, saying he would do anything for even a brief period with something he really wanted. This is a foreshadowing of what is to come. The blind man “sees” that Inman is talking about a woman, and he warns him they shoot people who “take a walk,” that is, desert. 

 

But Inman wants to honor Ada’s request to return to her. He runs off at the same time that a proclamation is read in Cold Mountain that a deserter is guilty of treason and anybody who helps him is likewise culpable. In his position, the corrupt Teague has unrestrained power to enter a person’s home to investigate to see if a deserter is there. He is looking to recruit volunteers to help carry out his duties. In effect, those men left behind are given license to exploit their own people. Teague keeps hovering over Ada like a buzzard, waiting to feed on her desperation. In Odyssey terms, she is the Penelope character fighting off suitors as she waits for her man to return to her.

 

At supper with the Swangers, Esco, who thinks Ada waiting for Inman is futile, injects a bit of supernatural lore into the story, saying that looking into a mirror while leaning backward over their well will reflect what’s in store for Ada in her future. She tries it and sees the shadows of many birds flying around a man walking toward her who falls. In her narration of a letter to Inman she interpreted what she saw as him coming toward her. Her vision adds a sense of destiny to their story. She knows that she may have seen only his ghost, and doubts whether she can survive on her own. She feels as if she must have his presence, or at least the hope of it, to persevere.

 

Destiny then intervenes to help her with her despair about surviving. Feisty Ruby (a precious jewel?) Thewes (Renee Zellweger, in a Best Supporting Actress Oscar performance) arrives, sent by Sally, and immediately shows her practicality by announcing that the cows need to be milked. She injects much needed energy and humor into the story with her dialect tinged observations. Her small stature is deceptive as she announces how she can plow all day and there is no man better than her because, “there ain’t no man around who ain’t old or full of mischief.” Her observation is quite accurate given the circumstances. She gets down to basics right away, making it clear she is no servant and expects her and Ada to share the work, eat at the same table, and empty their own chamber pots. The rooster that has attacked Ada in the past crows, and Ada says the devil lives inside the bird. Ruby shows that even Satan is no match for her as she grabs the animal and breaks off its head, announcing that the rooster will be used for food. The rooster may also symbolize those men full of “mischief” who would harass and control women, and Ruby is the female force that will not allow that dominance. The director and screenwriter, Anthony Minghella, said that he saw Ada as “air” and Ruby as “earth,” which is an economical way of describing the differences between their backgrounds and temperaments.  

 

Inman encounters Reverend Veasey (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who is the demonic opposite of Reverend Monroe. He has drugged a slave he has impregnated and to get rid of the evidence of his lustful ways, prepares to compound his transgression by killing the woman by throwing her into a gorge. Inman, a far more moral man than the hypocritical Veasey, prevents the crime. They go back to his home where Veasey notes that they shouldn’t wake his wife. This information only adds more feelings of disgust for the slimy Veasey (whose name sounds like “weasel” or “easy,” as in being lax in his ethical behavior). Inman dispenses moral justice by tying him to the fence outside, gagging him, and placing a note that describes Veasey’s despicable actions.

 

Ruby puts Ada through farming boot camp, telling her about all of the tasks that they must perform, including what crops to plant and repairs to fix. Ruby marches around the area, spouting orders like a drill sergeant. Back on the road, Inman and slaves are hunted, put in the same category as runaways. While in flight, Inman again runs into Veasey, who is also a fugitive after Inman revealed his despicable actions. The fugitive reverend knows a woman (Jena Malone) who can take them across the river by boat. She wants money to do the job, which Inman gives her. The constantly horny Veasey starts to make advances on the backwoods woman. She is not religious and reflects the fallen spiritual state of the times when she says, “I’d say these days, the devil rules the roost.” (Her remarks remind us of the demonic rooster). To validate her statement, she is willing to prostitute herself for another thirty dollars, and Veasey comically asks Inman if they have the money. But that light moment quickly turns to one of danger as men on shore fire upon the boat, wounding the woman, and she falls into the water, as if she must be baptized in death for her sins. 

 

As Ruby quizzes her about what grows on the land, the frustrated Ada notes she was only prepared to be a woman of culture, reading books, speaking Latin and French, and cutting flowers for display, not growing them. The disparity in these two women shows as their skill sets are vastly different, with Ruby’s being the one needed once civilization is stripped away. Ada admits that her training was not practical and says the fence they are building is the only thing she has done, “that might produce an actual result.” The earthy Ruby asks, knowing the answer from her sophisticated co-worker, if Ada ever “wrapped her legs around” Inman. Ada is outraged by the remark, but then smiles at the thought, and probably finds Ruby’s candid words liberating. She later plays her piano, and Ruby enjoys the music, so Ada is also rubbing off on Ruby.

 

But the music doesn’t last as practicality will not allow for such extras. Ada sells the instrument so they can have food. Ruby says she had to sell her hair once for money, showing her level of personal sacrifice. Her father was a more pedestrian musician playing fiddle, but she believes he was killed in the war. She says her father left her in the woods as a child so her experiences have hardened her. She sums up his priorities when she says, “My daddy, he’d walk forty miles for liquor and not forty inches for kindness.”

 Inman and Veasey meet a wilderness man named Junior (Giovanni Rabisi), and they help him remove his dead bull from a stream. Junior brings the two men to his house for a meal. If there is a parallel to Homer’s epic here, then the women in Junior’s house would represent the seductive Sirens. Lila (Melora Walters) is Junior’s wife and her three sisters and children live there in this R-rated full house. After a boisterous meal accompanied by a lot of booze, Junior says he’s going off to tend to some traps. The women put the children to bed, and the females easily seduce Veasey, while Lila wants Inman, who is very drunk, for herself. Even though Inman is momentarily tempted by the undressed Lila, he is more concerned about keeping his letters and book from Ada. Junior bursts back in with the Home Guard. Junior scammed the men so he could receive a reward for their capture. So, on his virtuous journey back to his true love, Inman must endure and overcome the corrupt nature of people.

 

When the Home Guard hides Inman and the other chained prisoners he is attached to from Yankee soldiers, Inman says he refuses get shot again for a cause he does not believe in. He now voices his opposition to the South’s defense of slavery. He gets the other captives to make a run for it. When the Union soldiers hear the commotion they come back and a gunfight ensues and all the bound prisoners have no means to defend themselves. All, except Inman, are killed. Meanwhile Ruby and Ada visit Sally who uncharacteristically does not invite them in and says that her husband missed seeing them since he was not at home. Ruby is suspicious as she smelled Esco’s tobacco, so he was there, and the fields have been worked, which Esco could not have done himself. 

 

That conclusion is also reached by Teague and his men as they visit Esco’s ranch, and Teague says the Swanger boys left the military and are hiding there. The ruthless immorality of these men is depicted. They murder Esco, torture Sally, and kill their two boys when they come out to help their mother. Teague says he can confiscate the land, which is why he took the job in the first place, for selfish gain. Ada and Ruby heard the gunshots and run to the Swanger farm. They rescue Sally from the noose around her neck. Ruby announces, like a prophet, what is going on around them in the South, that thrived because of slavery and has become diseased with evil, when she says, “This world won’t stand long. God won’t let it stand this way long.” 

 

An old woman (Eileen Atkins) rescues Inman. She is a cantankerous angel, one of a few, like the Sangers, Ada and Ruby, who fight the wrongdoing taking over the land. She uses homemade remedies to treat his wound and injuries. Inman wonders why he has been spared during the time he was a soldier. The old woman, echoing the destiny theme, says everything in nature has a job, and so does Inman. He again expresses his anti-war feelings when he says he is different and is not “like every fool sent off to fight with a flag and a lie.” He seems to suggest that false appeals to patriotism may be a means to deceive others to defend a corrupt system. He tells her about Ada and even though he hardly knows her he feels compelled to go back to her. She represents what he now sees as his home.

 

There is an appropriate transition from Inman’s convalescence to Ada reading to Sally as the woman recuperates from her ordeal. Ruby and Ada catch a man trying to steal some of their food and it turns out to be Ruby’s father, Stobrod (Brendan Gleeson) who is still alive, and is a deserter. Ruby’s harsh initial response is to kick her old man because he “beat,” “abandoned,” and “ignored” her, and now puts them in jeopardy for being wanted for treason for running away from his military service. Stobrod says the war has changed him, he seems contrite, and says he wrote many songs about his daughter. Ruby isn’t willing to forgive his past transgressions, but she does start to sob as he tells her he loves her as he leaves. She is funny after he leaves when she says “he’s so full of manure, that man. We could lay him in the dirt and grow another one just like him.” There is another light moment when later Ruby’s father and a banjo player he teamed up with named Pangle (Ethan Suplee) serenade the women, and thank them for a coat Ruby made and food they gave the men.

 The old woman gives Inman some supplies and he resumes his journey. Ada’s influence on Ruby is demonstrated as Ada reads to her from Wuthering Heights and wants to continue reading after Ada finishes for the night. The novel is a romantic story of doomed love which resonates with the plot of the film. This point is reinforced by Ada using Inman’s photo as a bookmark. Ruby’s animosity melts as she, Ada, and Sally welcome Stobrod, Pangle, and another one of their companions, a mandolin player, Georgia (Jack White) on Christmas. The men play music and they all dance, trying to escape the coldness and danger that lives outside. Ruby is still the pragmatist and forbids the men to sleep on the property for fear of the Home Guard finding them there. But they covertly stay overnight in the mill and leave tracks in the snow which allow them to be followed. Ada tells the members of her sisterhood that she loves them as she, Sally, and Ruby have joined forces to be survivors of this horrible time.

 

Inman seeks shelter at the cabin home of a woman named Sara (Natalie Portman), who lives there only with her sick baby. She wants to trust Inman, but when he hands her his gun to gain that trust, she is repulsed by the weapon. The war has made her angry and says she wishes all metal would be banned, “every blade, every gun.” Her husband died at the Battle of Gettysburg, and she says that is the repetitive nature of war, where a man dies, and a woman is left alone. Her lonely situation has made her bitter and sad. But Inman is grateful for the food she offers, as well as the clothes of her dead husband. His trying on the deceased soldier’s clothes probably makes Sara yearn for the man she has lost. She asks Inman to come inside from the corn bin to just lie next to her in bed so she could capture something of what it was like to be with her husband. She cries and doesn’t want him to leave. He holds her and comforts her but tells her that he loves another, which lets her know he will not betray his love.  

 

An alarmed Sara wakes Inman and warns him that Yankees are coming which will be a threat to both of them. War, by its very nature, strips away human decency, and terrible crimes are perpetrated on both sides of the conflict. The starving Union soldiers drag Sara out of her home and tie her to a tree. They want whatever food she has and bring her ill baby outside and put it on the cold ground to get Sara to say what she has to eat. She admits to having a hog, but that and some chickens is all she has left to get her through the winter. One of the soldiers takes Sara inside and starts to rape her. But Inman is hiding there and kills the soldier and another who enters the house. One of the soldiers, Bardolph (Cillian Murphy) is upset about what his fellow soldiers are doing and tries to warm the baby. Inman tells him to leave his clothes and boots and head out, but the incensed Sara brings out her rifle and shoots Bardolph. The movie implies that when violence rules, nobody is safe, not even the well-intentioned. 

 

Stobrod, Pangle, and Georgia build a campfire and go to sleep, but Georgia gets sick from the meal they cooked and wanders off just as Teague and his Home Guard men, including the murderous Bosie (Charlie Hunnam), show up. Their disreputable nature is shown as they make homophobic statements concerning Stobrod and Pangle. Unfortunately, the mentally challenged Pangle reveals that they had been staying in a cave where Teague noted deserters might be hiding out. He also says that Ruby made him his winter coat. The film suggests that it is a sad state of affairs that honesty turns out to be deadly. After playing a mournful song fitting what is about to happen, the Home Guard men shoot Stobrod and Pangle. Georgia tells Ruby and Ada what happened. Ruby acts tough on the surface, humorously saying, “If I cry one tear for my daddy, I stole it off a crocodile.” But then she breaks down and vents her anger at men who wage war and then complain about its effects when she says, “Every piece of this is man’s bullshit. They call this war a cloud over the land, but they made the weather, and then they stand in the rain and say, “Shit, it’s rainin’!” 

 Ada and Ruby discover the dead Pangle, but Ruby’s father crawled away after he was shot and Ruby finds him still breathing. They take care of him and Ada goes off to shoot a turkey for food. She sees a man at a distance coming towards her and given the dangerous times fires a warning shot and shouts for him to turn back. Inman has long hair and a full beard at this point, and is not easily recognizable. He calls her name, but when she tells him to leave, his fear that she would have forgotten him seems realized and he turns to go. But, their fate will not allow that, and Ada seems to know it is Inman and she calls to him. There is a modest show of relief on his face. 

 

They seek shelter in an abandoned building to care for Ruby’s father. Ruby says she had plans for the farm, and thinks the return of Inman will ruin what she wants for her and Ada. But Ruby gets reassurance from Inman that he has only good intentions toward Ada. He only received three of Ada’s numerous letters and she saw none that he sent. He tells her that her words helped him get through his dark times. She says how, since they had only a few moments together. He disagrees and says in that short period there were a thousand memories packed into that brief time which were for him like “a bag of tiny diamonds.” They then pull those little jewels out of their memories and smile as they relive them and the viewer sees the depth of the love between them. The irony is now that they are reunited, Inman fears that what he experienced in the war, what he had to do to survive, may have destroyed his soul and made him unworthy for her. 

 

Ruby then bursts out of the room which she was to share with Ruby and makes fun of all the sentimental love talk she had to endure hearing. She says she might as well stay where her father is resting so as not to listen anymore. Of course, she is just freeing up the room for Ada to share with Inman. When they are alone, Ada says that even her father, a reverend, would agree that war makes a marriage impossible sometimes. She is allowing for the consummation of their love because of extenuating circumstances. They profess their desire to be married and spend a passionate night together. But it turns out to be a brief Romeo and Juliet love interlude.

 

They head back to the farm, but Ruby and Ada travel on foot while Inman takes Stobrod on a horse separately because it is safer for the two deserters to travel alone. There is some sexually suggestive talk as Ada teases Ruby about her feelings for Georgia. This fun moment is quickly dispelled by the arrival of Teague and his men who have the tortured Georgia slung over a horse after he was forced to admit the two women looked for the bodies of Stobrod and Pangle. Teague says that making the coat for Pangle showed that the women conspired with deserters and were also guilty of treason. Teague says Ada’s prediction that there will be a reckoning doesn’t pertain to him, as if he is above the law, man’s and God’s. 

 

But a reckoning comes quickly, as Stobrod slouches and rides the horse up on a ridge as a diversion as Inman confronts the Home Guard men with gunfire and is aided by the women. Ada attacks Teague with her rifle butt and Inman shoots the man dead. The only one who gets away is the sadistic Bosie. Inman follows him and tells Bosie to give up his horse and his gun and he will not shoot him. Inman’s decency is punished instead of rewarded in this upside-down world. Bosie draws instead. They fire at each other, and Inman kills Bosie. But Ada sees the crows of her vision where she thought she saw Inman falling. She cries out and finds a replication of what she viewed looking in the mirror. Inman is framed by crows as he staggers toward her in the snow and falls, a portrait of a mortally wounded soldier/lover. But there is a smiling triumph on his face as his last words are, “I came back,” something that could be said by a returning hero after his time at war.

 

Ada’s voice-over returns as she realistically concludes that “what we have lost will never be returned to us.” She says, “all we can do is make peace with the past. And learn from it.” Unfortunately, history shows that humans are not good students when it comes to the lessons that war teaches. The film ends after several years have passed. But Ada has learned a great deal about farming, and she has Inman’s young daughter, born after his death, with the spiritually hopeful name of Grace, by her side to connect Ada to the man she loved. She finds a great deal of life still flourishing around her, and she is still writing letters to Inman, saying how she finds him in all that flourishes. 

 

Sally is there, and Ruby and Georgia are together and have a baby. Ruby’s father plays the fiddle and Georgia his mandolin as they sing about climbing a mountain (a reference to the film’s title) together. The song suggests overcoming obstacles with others, as these people have done. It is Easter, a time of resurrection, with new life carrying on despite the toll taken by the bleak season that came before.

The next film is Inception.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

Before this 1999 film, directed by Anthony Minghella, settles on its title, it offers a number of adjectives to describe the main character. Some are: troubled; intelligent; beautiful; yearning; musical. Before finalizing with “Talented,” another one shows up, which is “mysterious.” The movie suggests that he is multi-faceted, but also that there is no set of easily definable criteria to categorize him. That implication is possibly why his face is revealed during the running of the credits in strips, suggesting his personality consists of multiple puzzle pieces that may be impossible to assemble.

Who Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is can’t be determined by a surface observation. We first see him playing a piano accompaniment at an opulent outdoor party as a young woman sings opera. But, Ripley, in an after-the-fact voice-over, says that everything would not have happened if he hadn’t borrowed a jacket. This fact coveys that he is not wealthy enough to be a guest at the proceedings. But, the jacket sports a Princeton University logo on it. We immediately see that Ripley (whose name implies that he “rips off” others) pretends to be something he is not. When Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn), a wealthy shipping businessman, assumes that Tom, being a Princeton man, must know his son, Dickie, Tom embraces the deception by saying he does. Greenleaf’s wife, seeing Tom with the opera singer exchange what looks like an affectionate kiss on the cheek, says what a nice couple the two makes. Another false assumption, as Tom is just a friend, and escorts the woman to a car where her boyfriend awaits, and from whom Tom borrowed the jacket. When it comes to Ripley, the theme of appearances are deceiving has been established.

We next see Tom working as a bathroom attendant at a concert hall, brushing lint off of affluent-looking men in dinner jackets. We already know he is musical, so where he works makes sense. But, he is a person residing on the lower rung of the socio-economic ladder, and has the opportunity to infiltrate those well-off groups by clinging to their fringes, providing menial tasks. Even though nothing definite is said, it seems apparent that Tom wants the better life, probably because he feels he deserves it. And, that is why he will perpetuate frauds to become part of high society. That he wants praise and acceptance is evident because he plays the grand piano on the stage, the spotlight shining down on him, when he believes he is the only one left in the theater. However, here and elsewhere, we get a shot of half of Tom’s face, the other half hidden behind a door frame, suggesting that there is always a part of him that refuses to reveal itself, to be explained.

Tom is able to cash in on Mr. Greenleaf’s belief that he knows his son. He is to try to get Dickie to return home from Italy. According to Greenleaf, his son’s “talent,” (as opposed to Tom’s multiple talents) is to spend the allowance his father gives him. The older American generation man sees work as the one prevailing virtue, and is antagonistic toward Dickie’s indulging his interests in jazz, lounging on the beach, and sailing. These activities represent the European leisurely lifestyle. One does get a negative, almost The Great Gatsby, critique in this film of the idle young rich who are unproductive, pretentious, condescending, and dismissive of those that don’t belong in their exclusive circle.

Tom prepares for his role, like an actor pretending to be someone else, to get close to Dickie by listening to and learning about jazz while he packs for the trip in his loud dive of an apartment. Because he is funded by the rich Greenleaf, Tom sails first class to Italy, and, thus, appears to be a member of the elite. He fosters this impression when he encounters Meredith Logue (Cate Blanchett) when they are collecting their luggage. Since the chauffeur who brought Tom to the ship said that Greenleaf is a name that “opens doors,” he pretends to be Dickie with Meredith, so he will be compatible being in her company, she being from a famously rich family. She wonders why he was looking for his luggage under the letter “R.” He is quick in adapting to situations, so he says he was traveling incognito by using his mother’s maiden name. He is a man disguising who he is by saying he is traveling in disguise. Meredith comments how she envies his ability to travel light, which is significant, because he has little historical “baggage” which he carries with him. And, she wishes to dispense with hers, feeling weighed down by her family attachments, and is also traveling under an assumed name. While his motive is attention and acceptance, she seeks anonymity. So, in this story, for varying motives, people are phonies.

There are numerous mirror images in this movie. When the artist uses reflections symbolically, they usually imply multiple personality aspects, or doppelgangers. Tom looks into a mirror as he practices his Italian for his role. He says, “This is the face of Dickie,” followed by “This is my face.” He has already pretended to be Dickie once. Much later in the story, Dickie (Jude Law) calls Tom a “leech.” He wants to attach onto a person and suck the life out of him, which may cause the host to die. Tom is like a body snatcher, an unformed entity drawing its form from another. He not only wants to be accepted by the upper class, maybe loved by them, but also wants to replace one of their kind with himself, since he can’t become a member of their club based on his social standing. A metaphorical validation of this point occurs when Tom first encounters Dickie. He had been spying on Dickie and his girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). He then pretends to recognize Dickie as a fellow Princetonian while casually walking on the beach where the two are sitting. Dickie does not remember him, but says his college days were like a fog, a place in which he was lost because it required him to rigorously apply himself. Dickie comments how white Tom looks. Tom says, “It’s just an undercoat,” and adds, “You know, a primer.” Tom’s joke is revealing of how he is an unfinished foundation, an incomplete person, ready for an identity to be grafted onto him. At this point he is as pale as an insubstantial ghost, looking to become incarnate.

Tom insinuates himself into Dickie and Marge’s lives by taking advantage of a courtesy invite to lunch. Dickie makes Tom feel like the help again when he asks him to make a martini, but Marge softens it by saying what a great drink she makes. Dickie says that is her talent and asks Tom what his is. He admits truthfully, although it appears comically, that his skill set includes forging signatures, telling lies, and doing impersonations. He then imitates Mr. Greenleaf, using some of Greenleaf’s words about jazz being “noise”, which impresses Dickie, and in his father’s voice, Tom admits to the plan where he is paid to get Dickie to come home. This reveal ingratiates Tom to Dickie, showing that he is really on Dickie’s side. Tom also wants Dickie to stay in Italy, so he can be part of his world. He strategically drops a bag of jazz albums onto the floor as he is ready to leave, and now Dickie is won over. He takes Tom to a jazz club, where Dickie plays the saxophone with the band, and brings Tom onstage, where he quickly picks up the lyrics, since the outside easily imprints onto him. It is appropriate that the song they sing is about someone who wants to imitate a lifestyle, like Tom. (This film reverberates its themes in almost every scene). Tom weds himself to Dickie and Marge by using Mr. Greenleaf’s payment to buy Dickie a refrigerator. As reciprocity, Dickie invites Tom to stay with them, furthering his encroachment into Dickie’s life.

Tom schools Dickey on duplicity by coaching him on writing letters to his father so as to milk Greenleaf out of more funds. In one of the father’s letters, he notes that he saw Tom with the girl at the recital. Tom pretends that he is engaged to her, affirming the misconception to be consistent with Greenleaf’s account. Dickie says that is why his father likes Tom – he is stable, settling down. We begin to see that Tom is becoming a replacement for Dickie in Greenleaf’s eyes. And, Tom, not knowing sailing, or the Italian cities, becomes a protégé, as Dickie unknowingly grooms him as a substitute.

Tom’s chameleon ability is witnessed in a chilling mirror scene where Tom, looking into his reflection, mimics both Dickie’s and Marge’s speech patterns, with pictures of his hosts also appearing in the mirror, as he handles their jewelry, coveting their possessions. Dickie even offers Tom, who has a corduroy jacket, stressing his outsider status in Italy, to wear his shirts, furthering their identification with each other.

There is a prevalent homosexual theme occurring in the film. Marge, who even though at this point likes Tom, complains to Dickie about his intrusion. She bitingly asks Dickie that if they were to marry, would they have to take Tom with them on the honeymoon, since she sees how Tom is drawn to him. Tom learned from Marge that Dickie sang “My funny Valentine” for her. Back at the jazz club, with Tom and Dickie on stage, Tom now sings the song, and we know he is singing to Dickie. When Tom takes off his glasses, Dickie says Tom doesn’t even look ugly without them. It is actually a compliment, and encourages Tom sexually, but also shows Dickie’s narcissism, as Tom looks a bit like him. Tom mentions that he is Clark Kent with the glasses, and Dickie is superman. This reference emphasizes the flattery, but also points out that the superhero reference signifies the merging of two personalities into one person. This is more than gay attraction – it is love of oneself, each participating in the romance. Under normal circumstances, the physical bonding between two men would be benign. But, we already know Tom is deceptive and scheming. As Tom holds onto Dickie when riding on the latter’s scooter, Dickie complains, saying that Tom is breaking his ribs. This scene indicates Tom’s dangerous nature because of his obsessive urge to possess another, and is a foreshadowing of the end of the film.

Dickie begins to recognize Tom’s obsession with him while Dickie is taking a bath and Tom sits next to the tub. They observe that the two of them and Marge are only children, which Tom says that means that they have never shared a bath with anyone. Tom then asks if he can join Dickie in the tub. Dickie gives a look that shows how weird he thinks the request is before saying no. Tom then says he meant using the warm water after Dickie is finished, because he is cold. This statement almost symbolically implies the sharing of bodily fluids. Dickie then emerges from the water, naked, and again we have the mirror, with Tom looking at the reflection of the nude Dickie. By looking at Dickie, Tom is seeing his own sexuality reflected back to him, but even more, their separate persons are merging into one image. Dickie is not a fully formed individual himself, as he moves from place to place, from one musical instrument to another, and diverts his attention to various people. Dickie’s lack of a definite identity is symbolized in the scene where authorities question his ID, to which an official says that he doesn’t look like his picture. Thus, he is ripe for Tom to take possession of him.

The arrival of Dickie’s friend, Freddie Miles (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) threatens the bond with Tom. Freddie is a condescending, elitist young man, who immediately sees Tom as an unworthy invader into the privileged sphere. Freddie works it that only experienced skiers can go on their holiday, so Tom is excluded. He now occupies all of Dickie’s time, exiling Tom to lonely, solitary sightseeing, reverting him to outsider status. Dickie becomes more alienated from Tom when he comes home and sees Tom wearing his clothes, including his shoes, and dancing around the apartment. This scene follows the tub one, and Dickie finds Tom’s encroachment disturbing. He tells Tom to take off the clothes, but in another room, attempting to minimize any sexual situations between them.

 In the scene where Freddie joins Dickie, Marge, and Tom on a boating outing, Tom, sits alone, reading, as the other young men frolic in the sea. Freddie pretends to be drowning Dickie, who yells out as if being threatened. Marge observes, “Why is it when men play, they always play at killing each other.” This is a foreshadowing, because in Tom’s world, the subconscious desire to destroy becomes outwardly manifest. Later, in that same scene, Freddie pressure Dickie to come with him to Rome, where there are many women. He says this within earshot of Marge, who goes below. Freddie demonstrates the inconsiderate carelessness of the wealthy here. Dickie follows his girlfriend, saying he must do “Marge maintenance.” The two engage in sex, with Tom peering in disgust, wanting Dickie to himself, through an opening above. Freddie needles Tom, asking him “how’s the peeping, Tommy,” and repeats his name over and over, “Tommy, Tommy,” We have a Tommy, a Dickie, and a Freddie here, supposedly grown men on the outside, but acting like children, unconcerned about the effects their actions have on others as they satisfy their wants.

Dickie’s father writes to Tom to tell him that since he hasn’t been successful in getting his son to return to America, Greenleaf says he doesn’t require his services any longer. Dickie, becoming distanced from Tom anyway, now has the excuse that Tom no longer can pay his way. So, he tells Tom it’s best that they move on with their lives separately. But, he says they will have a final outing at a jazz festival in San Remo before saying goodbye. On the train to the town, the two share a car, and Dickie snoozes. Tom sees his reflection along with Dickie’s in the compartment’s window, and the two men look very similar, stressing the merging of their identities. Tom rests his head on Dickie’s shoulder. Dickie wakes up, and comments humorously that Tom is a bit “spooky.”

Dickie now sees right through Tom’s fakery. He calls him out about not having gone to Princeton, and how he only said he liked jazz to get close to Dickie. On a boat ride, Tom says he has a plan where he will return to Italy after he acquires enough funds, and they can be together again. He says that they are the brothers they never had, and he will get rid of the “Marge problem.” Dickie says he loves Marge and is going to marry her. Tom says that Dickie loves him, which Dickie laughingly denies. Tom then releases all of his venom, reminding Dickie of his cheating on Marge, and how he caused Silvana’s death. Dickie calls Tom a “third class mooch,” emphasizing his lowly socio-economic status, and calls him “creepy,” saying he doesn’t want to be in the boat with him. Tom explodes, hitting Dickie with an oar, and, after a struggle, kills him. Afterwards, he nestles next to his body, presenting an image of necrophilia. He weighs down the boat, and swims to the shore.

Back at the hotel, the concierge addresses Tom as Dickie, and from here on he leads a dissociative life, becoming Tom or Dickie depending on whom he is with. He tells Marge that Dickie abandoned them both, and left for Rome, providing a forged letter from Dickie to Marge backing up the story. He sends letters supposedly from a living Dickie to Tom. He alters Dickie’s passport and draws money from Dickie’s funds. He again encounters Meredith, who knows him as Dickie from their cruise. She says she ran into Freddie, who said he was with Marge. To solidify the story, he says he left Marge. Meredith is attracted to Tom/Dickie, and Tom forges ahead with Dickie’s lifestyle, having Meredith as his escort, as she picks out clothes for him, symbolically helping him become Dickie. 

The two attend an opera, which significantly is about a man who pretends to be someone he is not. There, Tom runs into Marge, who is with a friend, a musical conductor, Peter Smith-Kingsley (Jack Davenport). There is a spark of attraction between Tom and Peter, and one can’t help but think Tom sees Peter as a replacement for Dickie. His two identities are in danger of colliding, so Tom leaves the opera with Meredith. He says he can’t see her again, because she (another somewhat look-alike) reminds him of Marge. However, he says he will meet her the next day near the Spanish Steps at a café for a proper goodbye. Tom knows that Marge will be there, too, who shows ups with Peter. He stands up Meredith, who encounters Marge. Meredith substantiates that Dickie is there in Rome, and says that he still loves Marge. After Meredith leaves, Tom shows up as himself, and after he hears the story (which he has set up), he says, almost like an inside joke, that whenever Dickie does something wrong, he feels “guilty.”

 Freddie has been tracking down Dickie’s whereabouts, and shows up at the apartment in Rome. But, instead of finding his old friend, he sees Tom. He is suspicious immediately when Tom says that Dickie is having dinner at six in the evening, which is way too early. Tom looks like he is settled in there despite his saying he doesn’t live at the apartment. Freddie says the landlady said that Dickie was there now. As Tom talks, Freddie keeps hitting a piano key which is out of tune, indicating that Tom’s story doesn’t sound right. Tom is not wearing glasses, and has his hair swept back. Freddie, addressing Tom, says that the only thing there that looks like Dickie “is you.” Stating that Tom is a “quick study,” Freddie’s insight as to Tom’s attempt to replace Dickie is accurate. When Freddie leaves, he talks to the landlady who says Dickie plays the piano, which Freddie knows is not true. She then sees Tom on the upper landing and addresses him as Dickie. Freddie returns to the apartment. Bad move. Tom slams him over the head with a stone bust, killing him. IMDB says that the bust is of the Roman emperor Hadrian, whose gay lover was killed. An appropriate murder weapon for Tom, who did in his wished-for gay object of desire, Dickie. Always a wizard of manipulating what appears to be real, Tom pretends Freddie is drunk, and is helping him to his car. He even imitates Freddie’s voice, setting up the story that Freddie was alive when he left him. He dumps Freddie’s body in the woods next to his car. 

The police investigate the death, and question Tom as Dickie. He gets into a scooter accident, bruising his face, when he sees a man wearing a hat like the one Dickie wore. His smashing into mirrors along an antique row implies how he may be haunted by that part of himself that is now Dickie. He encounters Marge, who wonders if Dickie hurt Freddie. Tom says the bruise resulted from an argument with Dickie, as Tom creates a pattern of violence associated with Dickie. Marge says every time she looks for Dickie she finds Tom, an unknowingly accurate statement. The police, addressing Tom as Dickie, question what happened to Tom, who went missing when Dickie and Tom were in San Remo, and they found a weighed down boat. They think Dickie is the culprit – ironic, since it is Tom who is in front of them, and Dickie is the dead one. Anyway, they have two murders associated with Dickie.

Tom realizes he must rid himself of the Dickie persona, since he is a murder suspect. He forges a suicide note, which admits guilt about Silvana and Freddie. But the note goes on to say how Tom was the brother he never had, and is the type of son his father deserved. He also scratches out the picture in the passport, implying self-hatred, but really a ploy to prevent discovering Tom was impersonating Dickie. Tom travels to Venice, where he encounters Peter, whom he now latches on to. When Marge visits, she looks suspicious, saying, “I see you’ve found Peter,” seeing him as the next Dickie. She is suspicious of how he can afford such a nice place in Venice. She also discovers Dickie’s rings in Tom’s possession, jewelry she bought for Dickie, and which he swore he would never remove. She startles Tom, coming out of a bath when she makes the find and demands to know why he has Dickie’s rings. This shot in the bath reminds us of how Tom has replaced Dickie in the tub. But, when he goes to face Marge, Tom accidentally drops his towel, showing his nakedness, and metaphorically, revealing his true, duplicitous nature.

Mr. Greenleaf arrives in Venice with a private investigator. Marge says that Dickie wouldn’t have withdrawn money from the bank right before he is ready to kill himself. She suspects, rightly, that it was Tom accessing the funds before implicating Dickie as a killer and a victim of suicide. She says Tom now looks like someone who is “to the manor born,” as if he comes from the elite. But, she is really saying his rise was done through deceptive manipulation. However, Tom has plotted his scheme well, and gets lucky, too, as he learns from the investigator that he didn’t make up Dickie’s violent nature. He almost killed someone at Princeton, and his father got him off, allowing him to find refuge for a while in Italy. So, the story indicts more than just Tom. Based on the suicide note which contained Dickie’s endorsement of Tom, compliments of Tom himself, Greenleaf transfers Dickie’s trust to Tom. He now has truly replaced Dickie as his father’s son. When Marge leaves with Greenleaf, she attacks Tom near the pier, saying that she knows he is the killer.

Tom has now taken up with Peter. They embark on a cruise. He appears to want to come clean with Peter, wants to share true intimacy. But, Meredith is on the ship (there are a few too many coincidences here), with an entourage of family members. She knows Tom only as Dickie, and Peter knows him as Tom. He can’t kill Meredith, because she is not alone. Peter has seen him with Meredith, so he knows they will discover his secret once they talk to each other. He decides to do away with Peter, his possible soulmate, which makes the events even more tragic. We hear Peter, in bed, not involved in sex, but in the throes of death (the two were intermixed in Elizabethan poetry), saying how Tom is crushing him, reminiscent of what Dickie said when Tom squeezed too tightly on the scooter. Ripley’s embrace is more akin to a boa constrictor, than that of a lover.

The next film is The Insider.