My Review of "Gone With The Wind"

Gone With The Wind has been suggested to me by an old friend for the longest time. I looked at the runtime of the movie and it scared me from watching it for the longest time. It's a whopping four hours long! He asked me to trust him in his suggestion. After years of hesitation I finally caved. I have to say that I thought it was pretty dumb at first, however at some point in the movie, I got sucked in.

This movie starts off talking about some glamorous view of the south of America. I got a little worried because it kind of glorified having slaves and the world seemed to be viewed in rose colored glasses. I had to consider that this movie had come out in 1939 so there is a good chance this could be a racist movie. What did I get myself into?

Then the movie kept going and I realized that it's a perspective of a person that lived in those times. The main character, Scarlett, is infatuated with this guy named Ashley. Unfortunately for Scarlett, Ashley had recently asked his first cousin Melanie. It was different times back then I guess? I don't know what went on in the south. Still we hear about these stories in royalty and other historical records.

Times are great but there's this talk about how a civil war was about to arise. The Yankees are the Americans from the north. This discussion makes me kind of understand the deep rooted pride that the south has in America. The south was seen as an elegant group of people and the north were seen as practical brutes. From their description of how the two different areas lived their lives it was no doubt the south would suffer huge losses.

That's exactly what had happened. Scarlett had married a guy only because she couldn't give her hand to her loving Ashley. Before Ashley had left for the war he asked Scarlett to take care of his pregnant wife Melanie. Since Scarlett is head over heals for Ashley she agrees but still has hopes of eventually ending up with Ashley in the end.

After years of terrible war we see the south being decimated. Their way of life will never be the same. One of the guys profiteering from the war is this guy Rhett. He's had eyes for Scarlett since he first saw her. This guy isn't shy to announce his love either. Unfortunately for Rhett, she doesn't share the same feelings for him because of her obsession for Ashley. Rhett is fully aware of this but he's relentless.

As you can see it's already becoming a soap opera. This movie could very well have been a short mini series rather than a full fledged movie. In fact, I think it would have been better if it was made into a mini series.

As the south continues to be ravaged by war, resources start to get really scarce. Everyone is living off of scraps. Even worse Melanie has become weak after the birth of her son. You really see Scarlett come to the rescue as she realizes that she has to change her outlook on things. She knows that she has to be ruthless just as the Yankees have been during the war. I start seeing some of the famous scenes of the film and realize that this movie has a huge influence on pop culture.

Without giving away too much we learn how the devastation of war can influence a once affluent area and the people that lived there. This movie is a long one and they go into detail about a lot of terrors of war.

I was stunned at the amount of production value that this movie had even for 1939. There's a ton of scenes in this movie that would have been done in CGI had they been made today. They went into detail with a lot of the sets and costumes. These costumes and sets are still stunning to today's standards. Art is art and you have to appreciate the amount of work they put into this film.

Some of the acting is a little weird. I know it's the way that they acted back in the 1930s. They were probably coached to be that way but in a way it helps sell the emotion of the movie. Today's movies have a little more subtlety in the way they act but back then it was very apparent what the emotion of the characters were. There's no guessing what they're trying to say. It helps with the story because the characters in the movie are pretty complex. You see that a lot of people don't like Scarlett but she did what she had to in order for her loved ones were able to survive.

Scarlett is a very interesting character because of her infatuation with Ashley really has a huge impact on all of the decisions in this film. It practically drove the motivation for a lot of the things that happened in the movie. Although some people see Rhett as a romantic hero he himself is pretty much a male version of Scarlett. He even mentions this earlier in the film. This love triangle story almost feels Shakespearean. Star crossed lovers that were or weren't meant to be.

Meanwhile, all of this craziness is happening behind the back of one of the nicest saints in Melanie. She is possibly the nicest person throughout the movie. There's a lot that happens to her but she is a very forgiving person that looks at things in the big picture. I really liked her character because she was such a good person.

There's so much to write and study in this movie that I can understand why people believe that this is one of the best movies that ever came out. Quite honestly, if someone wanted to see the movie again I wouldn't say no to watching it again. It's a very interesting movie that will really suck you in. I was shocked that I totally fell for this movie. I didn't realize the time when it finally finished.

Overall, I now understand the hype of this movie. My friend was right to tell me to watch this movie and I would highly suggest that you check it out too. I have to give this movie a 9 out of 10. It is a very enjoyable movie despite the extremely long runtime. If you check it out, you'll see what I mean.