Self-Indulgent Soap-Opera of Gargantuan Status

Rating: 7/10 (21 August 2013)

1939 is considered to be the peak of the Hollywood Studio System and GWTW is the Pike's Peak of Hollywood's output to that point. This is one of the longest, highly regarded Films, at nearly 4 Hours. It is more embraced by Women than Men and attacked more by Liberals than Conservatives for its sentimentalizing the Lifestyle that was gone with the wind after the War.
A Soap Opera of gargantuan status, this overlong, overrated, tear-jerker is at times mesmerizing but manipulative. This is the stuff of Romance Novel Tomes that are more emotional than engaging with scatterbrained Females using their wily wares to get what they want in supremely selfish ways with little or no regard for anyone. In this the Movie succeeds in spades.
The Civil War is presented battle less but not without suffering, much suffering. There are a few magnificent shots with "great balls of fire", and an unforgettable Scene that begins with Scarlett entering the Street from the Hospital and as the Camera pulls back from Her, it is one of the most famous Establishing Shots in Cinema History ending with a tattered Confederate Flag.
In short (absolutely impossible) this is an Ethnocentric and ever popular (although it has lost some of its support and is declining in affection over the Years), slanted, with its unapologetic Politics and Historical Whitewashing, Artifact of an age of Movie Making that is gone but not forgotten.