Gone With The Wind

its a girly movie, but still, i really liked it! there's so much hype about this i was really reluctant to see it, but the story does draw you in. really good ending too. not you average happy days ending, so it had depth.

For me this story was about a very strong woman, I loved Scarlett and didn't think she was a spoilt brat, she was only young at the start of the book. She was selfish - but aren't most people deep down. She is my heroine and a survivor. She came from privileged stock but was practical and strong when she had to be and learnt from life, changing with the times. I couldn't put the book down - loved it.

They used to show this on TV in the U.S. every year in two parts - because it's so long! It's one of the most famous films of all time, adapted from Margaret Mitchell's novel about the effects of the Civil War on the South. Scarlett O'Hara, one of film's most famous heroines, is a Southern belle, daughter of an Irishman who owns a plantation in Georgia, who is in love with the dashing Ashley Wilkes, who is about to go off to war for the Confederacy. Ashley marries the quiet and frail Melanie and Scarlett, despite being insanely jealous of Ashley, promises to watch over her. It follows Scarlett through the war, three marriages, the burning of Atlanta and the ravages of Reconstruction and the founding of the KKK in post-Civil War Georgia. It's a fantastic work of epic, historical fiction which was an amazing undertaking for the year in which it was produced (1939) and it gives a real sense of its location.

The acting performances as well are notable, especially Vivien Leigh, a British actress who excelled as the strong-willed Scarlett and Clark Gable, famous forever for uttering the line as Rhett Butler, Scarlett's third husband, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." as he leaves her for the final time.

If you can sit through the whole film, it's well worth watching - although it may make sense to view it as American TV stations used to, over two nights, as it's a hard-going drama and outside of Scarlett's willful attitude, there's not a lot to smile about in the story.