Minghella answers his critics

The British director of the Civil War epic “Cold Mountain” opened the Berlin Film Festival Thursday and rejected U.S. criticism for making the film about a sacred piece of American history in Romania.

Anthony Minghella said he was surprised by the attacks from some U.S. quarters.

“This is what happens when people become tribal,” Minghella told a news conference after showing “Cold Mountain” to about 1,000 journalists at the opening of the 11-day festival. “It’s ironic that this should cause so much trouble.”

Minghella, whose film is not in the competition for Golden Bear awards because it has already opened in the United States and Britain, said countervailing pro- and antiwar movements and other U.S. divisions were to blame for the attacks.

“It’s a difficult time there at the moment,” he said. “In times when a country feels under attack, there may be more of a nationalistic approach.”

He said his crew was able “to make the film more efficiently and beautifully in Romania than we could have in America.”