The year is 1861 and it’s the day before the Civil War begins. A young woman, Scarlett O’Hara, is in love with this man, Ashley Wilkes. She wants to marry him. But he is engaged to his cousin, Melanie.

Later there is an engagement party for Ashley and Melanie. Scarlett looks for Ashley and tells him that she loves him. But he can’t accept that since he is going to marry Melanie. Scarlett repeats to him several times that she loves him. But that won’t change him. So, she is left heartbroken.

Regardless of that, Scarlett meets another man, Rhett Butler. He is in love with her. She actually decides to marry him.

At some point, though, the party has to pause. A guy announces that President Lincoln is looking for volunteers to fight in the upcoming war. Ashley plans to join it.

As time passes, the war continues to arise. Soldiers march through the streets. Men get injured and die. Dead bodies even lie on the ground.

Not long after, Scarlett goes to Melanie to tell her that they have to leave the town. But Melanie is in critical condition while she is also in labor. Concerned, Scarlett looks for help to save Melanie. But no one can help her.

Melanie has her baby and then the two, Scarlett, and a few others flee the town with Rhett leading the way through a horse and carriage. 

Later, it is safe enough for Scarlett to return home, which she does. She greets her father and asks where her mother is. Her dad tries to tell her that she isn’t around anymore but uses words that he presumably hopes won’t scare her.

Scarlett goes upstairs and to the room where her mother is… only to find out that she died, and her body is lying on a table. She lets out a lament and bursts into tears. Then she finds out that her mom died of typhoid fever. Even her dad has lost his mind because of that.

Scarlett steps out of her house and asks God to keep her family safe and ensure that they will survive. 

But things take a turn for the worse after the Confederacy is defeated. More characters, including Scarlett’s father, die. Will Scarlett remain safe? 

Despite how the trailer made the film look interesting, it did not turn out that way. Some scenes in the beginning kept my attention. But the story itself lagged.

The film is 4 hours long, although there is an intermission. Some movies had those during the 20th century when they were very long. However, I think a good chunk of the film could have shortened, such as certain scenes where characters talked to each other.

This brings me to my next point. The dialogue often did little to enhance the story. It seemed to focus a lot on the characters’ personal interests. 

That being said, there were also a good number of times where the characters’ lines and actions did help progress the plot. But I also found the characters to be a little bit unlikable. A big example is Scarlett herself. She is portrayed as a whiny woman who just wants Ashley to love her and gets upset when he won’t. I found that to be sexist, although this was made in the 1930s, when sexism, including females being damsels-in-distress in movies, was normal and acceptable.

After I saw the movie, though, I thought about how if it were remade today, there would have to be a lot of changes. A major one would be making Scarlett, as well as some of the other female characters, strong female leads.

For example, if there was a remake of Gone with the Wind happening soon, Scarlett may still be unhappy that Ashley didn’t love her. But she would handle it differently. She might get mad and say, “Whatever! I don’t need a man anyway!” and decide to solve the problems on her own, thus making her more independent.

But not only did the movie portray women as weak and whiny, they also depicted slaves as apparently enjoying their roles as working for free. Something like that is racist and would not be acceptable today.

Despite its G-rating, this film is not suitable for young children. There is lots of war violence, drinking (including a character getting drunk), some mild profanity, and even a little bit of sexuality. If this movie were released today, it would be rated, at least, PG-13.

Even though this film didn’t please me alot, I did remain curious throughout it. 

Nevertheless, I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. This may be a classic, but it just didn’t work out for me.