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Mistakes

Near the end of the movie, after Jude Law has been shot, he is lying on his back with Nicole Kidman leaning over his face. In the shot looking up at Kidman past Law's left ear, you can see the webbing for Law's wig on his left temple. See more...

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Natalie Portman, who plays Sara, originally auditioned for the part of Ada. See more...

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Genres: Drama, Romance, War

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "edit" under an entry, then choose "correct entry". You can also submit corrections for corrections, if you think a mistake has been unfairly removed.

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In the scene where Ruby and Ada are packing up the horses to go look for Ruby's father on the mountain, there is a shot of Ada walking behind Ruby and you can see that she is wearing modern white sneakers, not her black boots. [Ada is not wearing 'modern white sneakers', she is wearing her black lace-up boots that have been covered in snow. This is easily observed as she is walking up to the barn, at the beginning of the scene.]
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The first few instances shown of the two characters meeting are meant to be flashbacks, memories when Inman is on the verge of dying, but several times in his memories he is not actually present - how can he remember them? [There is no argument made anywhere in the film that all of its content is intended to be flashbacks. A good half of the film is Ada's story, where Inman is not present nor is supposed to be.]
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In one scene, Ada and Ruby are awakened by Stobrod's playing on the fiddle. It's clear from the light levels that it's well-into mid-morning, and neither has risen from bed. But Ada and Ruby are the only two people working the farm (if Kathy Baker's character is with them at that point, she's still bedridden). As made clear by the novel, people working a farm always rise at or before dawn, as the animals can't go without being fed that long. It's not a character mistake: a) Ruby's character is that of a very capable and responsible person, who would never leave animals to suffer unfed, and b) even if they both had, the cows would be bawling audibly in the background. Even on Sunday, animals have the same needs. [According to strict Christian doctrine, Sunday is a day of rest. They would have left extra food for the animals on Saturday before sunset, so they wouldn't violate the Sunday rule.]
Edit Corrected by JC Fernandez
Doesn't Ada seem to remain amazingly clean, groomed, and well manicured throughout the film?. The problem is, people in those times certainly didn't wash every day (as more realistically demonstrated by Ruby). Although Ada and her father were obviously a bit more well-off than others, and therefore would've probably cared much more about hygiene, even she couldn't have washed every day. Just look at her overall appearance during the film. Nice hair, nice nails etc., very unrealistic. [Not quite. Her hair is only neat and tidy before her father dies - after that it is consistently sloppy and tangled. When Ada eats dinner at Sally's, we can see her very dirty fingernails. And she may not have taken a full-body bath every day, but we can assume that she washed her face since she was raised in a more affluent manner than Ruby or Sally.]
Edit Corrected by Ral0618
Georgia is played by White Stripes singer Jack White, who is currently dating Renee Zellweger. [Jack White and Renee Zellweger are no longer dating. In 2005, both Jack White and Renee Zellweger married other people. Jack married model Karen Elson and Renee married Country singer Kenny Chesney.]
Edit Corrected by OneHappyHusky
In the scene where Inman gets in the canoe, he leaves his back pack on the dock and has a look on his face like he wants to go back and get it. When the soldiers start shooting at them, he has it on. [Inman has the strap for the pouch over his shoulder when he jumps in the boat. It can also be seen across his shoulder in the shot where he looks back at the dock, not as if to go back and get the pouch, but watching for the Home Guard.]
Edit Corrected by ChiChi
When Ada and Ruby go up into the mountains to find Ruby's father, Ada's hair is in braids, yet when she shoots the turkey and then sees Innman, her hair is down. [So she took out her braids, how is that a mistake?]
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When Inman is in hospital, he is given his book which contains the picture of Ada. The book had been seen burning on the battlefield earlier. [A corner of a page or two is seen burning, not the whole book.]
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Inman is hospitalized in late summer of 1864 and receives a letter that Ada had written the previous winter (1863). When Ruby arrives at Ada's house in the fall of 1864, Ada has been alone for a full year. Although she does no work, cannot cook or chop wood, and does not tend the garden or livestock, she has managed to survive. She could not have survived that winter without heat and food. When Ruby arrives after the farm has been neglected a full year, the garden has remnants of some crops, and the livestock and chickens are still around. In fact, the cows need milking. All livestock would have been dead or gone, and the farm would have been totally overgrown with weeds. Although it is late summer and too late for any planting, they put in a "winter" garden of greens and onions, which they could not possibly plant, grow, and harvest before the early winter of the mountains. [What makes you think that Ada was alone at Black Cove for an entire year? Rev. Monroe died in about May 1864, and Ruby joins Ada in about August 1864, or so says the book. Also, a winter garden is just what it says it is. Some crops can survive into the cold months.]
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In the winter scene where the voice-over says the new year is 1864, it should be 1865. The opening of the movie concerns the siege of Petersburg and the dramatic blowing up of a section of the Confederate lines. The main character Inman is wounded and hospitalized. In the book, he is wounded at Fredericksburg, a battle of 13 Dec. 1862. The blowing up of Confederate lines at Petersburg took place 25 June 1864. So the subsequent New Year would have been 1865, in the last four months of the war. [Where do you get the idea that the story ever got up to January 1, 1865? Does the movie state this? The book sure does not. In the book, Inman and Ada are reunited shortly before Winter Solstice 1864 (which would be December 21, 1864).]
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When Reverend Monroe has passed away and the rain is falling around him, his eye is seen to flutter. [I have watched this scene very carefully a few times, and both of this eyes stay very still. No part of his body is moving and he looks very much dead.]
Edit Corrected by Emily
When Ada is reading "Wuthering Heights" to Ruby, the book is open on the first 50 pages but that part of the story is near the end. [Ada is closer to the end of the book than the beginning.]
Edit Corrected by ChiChi
In the scene where Inman and the minister come across the man and the cow in the river, the man is trying to move the cow because it has died during the night. This cow is blinking, breathing and very much alive. [I have reviewed this scene and watched the cow very carefully. The cow does not blink or breathe. If you ignore the actors and just watch the cow, you can see that the cow appears very much dead and does not move, breathe, or blink at all. May have been fixed for DVD.]
Edit Corrected by Emily
When Inman and Ada finally meet - she is threatening him with the shotgun. She shot the turkey then she shot the warning fire. As it is a shotgun - it seems she is out of bullets and still keeping him away and threatening him. [She drops the turkey, so Inman doesn't know that she had fired the first shot. He didn't see her fire it, and he thinks she still has one.]
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In the scene where Renee Zelwiger's father is getting his hand bandaged, white cloth is used and in the next scene the bandages are brown. [We see Nicole Kidman put a brown bandage on top of the white one.]
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In the scene where Inman is shown walking along the shore, the ocean is at his right. Since he is trekking from Virginia (following the battles in and near Petersburg) to North Carolina, the ocean should be at his left. [He was moved to a hospital in South Carolina (stated in the book, but not in the film). So he would be heading North, with the ocean to his right.]
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