Visible crew/equipment: During the scene when Inman is ploughing his lone furrow he is not quite alone. In the final shot, when he is in the foreground and Ada is playing the piano on the horse-drawn wagon in the background, a pair of hands and arms can be seen at the left hand edge of the screen guiding the horse which is pulling the plough.
Cold Mountain (2003)
1 visible crew/equipment mistake - chronological order
Directed by: Anthony Minghella
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Renée Zellweger, Eileen Atkins
Factual error: In the scene where Inman is helping build the church he is handed modern pre-cut lumber. This product was not introduced until the middle of the 20th century.
Ada: I brought you this book... and this photo. I'm not smiling in it. I don't know how to do that... hold a smile.
Trivia: Natalie Portman, who plays Sara, originally auditioned for the part of Ada.
Question: I saw a rough cut of Cold Mountain, and in the scene with Natalie Portman, her baby dies, and she kills herself, as in the book. In the movie as released, the scene stops after Portman shoots the yankee soldier. Why did they cut the baby's death and her suicide?
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Answer: SPOILER: The director is building up to the peak of pathos of Inman being killed. While it is good to have many other sad scenes prior to this to foreshadow it, he probably felt that a dead baby and its mother's suicide might actually trump the hero's death in the sadness stakes which would make the real ending an anti-climax.
Oscar Bravo