Review of Gone with the Wind (1939) by Diego T — 08 Mar 2014

Hey look! Another classic film to get a mediocre rating from the ol' Tut's Tutillating Reviews! Gone With The Wind is quite possibly the ultimate and definitive Hollywood classic, rivaling Lawrence of Arabia, Citizen Kane, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly in terms of both cinematography and epic scale. This film scores perfect points from me on a purely technical standpoint. However, as it is with all things, other aspects must be taken under consideration. For example, Gravity: A well-filmed, beautifully edited, and all-around visually spectacular film with legendary CGI. But it's impossible to call a film "great" just based on one thing. If a terrible movie had a great performance in it, the overall film would not be great. In Gravity, the thing that brought it down was the vapidness and lack of depth. But in Gone With The Wind, the problem is not so much the lack of a message as it is what the message says.

Gone With The Wind is the story of Scarlett Johansson-- sorry, O'Hara (Vivian Leigh). Scarlett is a self-absorbed, vain, and all-around repulsive woman who lives on a plantation with her family while the Civil War brews around them. The first serious misstep the movie makes is when it tries to paint these people in a sympathetic light. Remember when everyone said that 12 Years a Slave made them see slavery differently? That was stupid, because nobody should ever have seen it as anything less than what 12 Years showed it as. However, if one's frame of reference was confined only to this film, they would probably think that slavery was an okay thing, and that black people were perfectly happy with it.

The moments with loyal black servants in this film are offensive enough, but even worse are the moments without them. Very little time is devoted to the actual explanation of what's going on. The film tries to show just one slice of the story-- Scarlett's-- without getting into the politics of what's going on in the crumbling world around her. She doesn't care, so why should we? Well, the answer is that the things going on around her, and her reaction to them, could make or break how we feel about the character. The movie sidesteps slavery, and that's pretty offensive. Granted, it's not Birth of a Nation, but it seems to pretend that black people were somehow happy as slaves and house servants. It's not cool. There's even a stupid black girl with a very thick accent who lies about knowing how to deliver a child. I think George Lucas based Jar-Jar off of her. In fact, she might be the most prominent African-American in the movie. It's all more than a little eyebrow-raising, and the underlying nostalgic themes about the old south are one-sided and decidedly ignorant.

However, one cannot overlook the truly fantastic things about this movie. Vivian Leigh may be playing the most obnoxious character in the history of cinema, but damn, she does it well. Clark Gable is even better than her as the ever-charismatic Rhett Butler, whose devil-may-care attitude and truly stupendous moustache end up hogging the screen whenever they make an appearance. The cinematography is also magnificent, especially the sequence in which Rhett and Scarlett flee Atlanta. The burning buildings in the background are still impressive today, and the orange-drenched scenery will still hold audience's rapt attention. If nothing else, this movie has stood the test of time, which is probably the most positive thing one can say about a film of its era. It drags on way too long at the end, like most three-hour movies do, but at its conclusion the audience will nevertheless feel satisfied... if a little peeved.

Final Score for Gone With The Wind: 6/10 stars. I'm torn on this movie, as it's both a startlingly well-done epic on every level, but also features a shocking oversight in terms of its subject matter and overall message. Seriously, are we expected to feel some sympathy for slave owners? Come on. Every northerner is painted in deprecating light, some being rapists, some being murderers, some being robbers, some simply being incompetent bunglers or evil occupiers. Sorry, Georgia, but you really do suck. Stick your Confederate flags up your ass. Slavery is neither something to be looked back on nostalgically nor something to be "proud of your heritage" for. The southerners were mad that they lost? What a bummer. Frankly, my dear, I couldn't give a damn.