Gone with the Wind moments

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2009)

A dear friend of mine said she'd definitely had a few of those during her sojourn in Atlanta, but frankly, you don't need to go all the way there to understand what that means. "Gone with the Wind" is a film about life: heaven and hell, heroes and villains, rich and poor, authority and obedience, love and hatred, civilisation and barbarism. Some deny that distinctions exist or ought to exist; others believe steadfastly that they are always on one side or the other, but as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn knew, and as "Gone with the Wind" shows, there is indeed a line and it oscillates not between humans but within every human heart.
Some, like the foreman, choose to eclipse any light totally in this world before going to hell, indulging without heed in vice and avarice. Some, like Melanie, conscientiously shine as brightly as possible, aware of their own weaknesses and working with them. Then there is every level in between: Belle, who lives in the dark but admires and even longs for the light that she can't bring herself to reach out and take; Ashley, who lives in the light and loves it passionately but whose sensibility allows him to tiptoe indulgently into the darkness...
... and, of course, Scarlet and Rhett, who strike the balance. Of course, the difference is that Scarlet will not come to terms with what she is, for that would force her to change. Rhett confesses his dark side openly and thinks it a necessary sacrifice... but one he hopes to overcome, some way, somehow.
But it is the setting of "Gone with the Wind," in a civilisation in peril, that is essential to the understanding of the entire film. The balance of civilisation versus barbarism is the windpipe upon which this entire piece is tuned. One cannot appreciate "Gone with the Wind" without having tasted true civilisation, and so I fear its popularity may decline if my generation of Americans continues living in stifling, bland suburbs, never petting a real horse, seeing truly decorative art outside a museum or hearing liturgical music in a real Church--and insulating itself whenever it comes close to (the remnants of) a civilisation, and if Europe continues to sell itself to Americanist infatuations (which it has recommenced in vigour since the end of last year).
Those of us who intend to preserve some sort of civilisation, however, can only love "Gone with the Wind," and can only speak of its strengths.