Gone with the Wind (1939) – Film Critic by Amiran Ivanidze
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Gone with the Wind (1939) – Film Critic by Amiran Ivanidze
This classical American movie takes us back to the 19th century, during the period of the American Civil War and its aftermath. It is the epic tale of a womans life during the hardest periods of the American history, from her young days on a southern plantation, to the aftermath of what was Americas most bloody war. Victor Flemings Gone with the Wind is one of these movies that are rarely seen nowadays, that makes you experience the life of the characters while you are watching it and makes you grieve with them in hard moments, it is a movie that puts a smile on your face when you watch a joyful scene, but also a movie that can put a tear in your eyes during a dramatic scene. Gone with the Wind is a movie that once watched will always stay in your heart and will teach you the downs and ups in a persons life, happiness and sadness, love and hate, and all the important feelings a person can have.
Gone with the Wind is a romance and an adventure put together, which contains moments of love, humor, pathos and tragedy. It is a culture depicting movie, showing specific characteristics of the South. Even in the outmost miserable times, the characters of the movie show very big courage and honor, which as we see plays a big role in the movie. Honor for these characters is everything, even when they have no more money left, they live for honor.
Rich with detail and drama, Gone with the Wind is a movie that withstands the test of time, as does one of its main characters Scarlet OHara (Vivien Leigh), becoming the ideal female protagonist of all time. We are first introduced to Scarlett at her parents home, Tara, spending her time at barbecues at the Wilkes and flirting with all the man. Scarlett is an example of a woman who can have any man she wants, but only Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) could withstand her charm and beauty, and stay loyal to his decision of marrying Melanie Hamilton (Olivia De Havilland). It is at these barbecues that Scarlett meets with her future financer and husband, the charming Rhett Butler (Clark Gable).
Soon Scarlets sweet life comes to an end when the Union announces war on the Confederacy. All the men leave to the front lines, fighting for the freedom of their states, against their countrymen while Scarlett and Melanie are in Atlanta healing the wounded men. This is the period where Scarlet grows up from being a girl carried around by her black servants to a woman with willpower, courage and determination. It is during the bombing of Atlanta and the attacks of the Yankees that we see all the fear and tragedy the movie has, and throughout the whole escape from Atlanta back to Tara, we are there with the characters, worrying about them, and feeling their fears.
During the Atlanta escape we see the outcome of the Civil War on the once beautiful South. Upon the arrival to Tara and by the end of the Civil War, the once rich cotton plantation is nothing but burned soil. Scarlet takes things by her hands and starts working at the plantation picking up cotton and saving up the last pennies and showing extreme courage. She tries everything to take care of her family, whether it is by shooting a Yankee soldier that broke into her house or marrying a man she does not love to pay her taxes.
Throughout the movie we see a lot of moments where Scarlet uses men to take care of the ones she loves and of the thing that is the dearest to her, Tara. During the movie, Scarlett gets married three times, and all these marriages were intended for her own interest and her