Thriving With the Wind

Last week saw the release of Baz Luhrmann's Aussie epic, AUSTRALIA. I personally cannot wait to see the film. It has been heralded as an Australian Gone With the Wind (1939).

It suddenly came to my attention that even though I knew alot about Gone With the Wind, even to the extent that I felt I had seen it before, I had actually never seen it. It is often called the greatest film of all time (it's certainly one of the longest), so my expectations were quite high, although at the same time I was quite sure that the film would bore the heck out of me. So with my spare afternoon yesterday, I decided to sit down and watch the film.

3 hours and 40 minutes later, I turned the DVD player off. All I could say was "Wow!". Yes, that's right. I completely thrived on Gone With the Wind! It is one of the most brilliant films I have ever seen. Regardless of it being almost 70 years old, I still found it thrilling, hilarious, inspirational and emotional. I really can't say enough good things about this film. No wonder it is considered as such a classic!

Everyone who has not seen this film should go out to their video store and rent it now. It should be essential for every single person to watch this film. It is that good. This is storytelling at its finest.

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara: Wow! I never realised how amazing Leigh is. I normally rave about Grace Kelly being the most beautiful actress who ever lived, but Leigh comes mighty close in second place. Her performance is one of the best I've seen: she completely carries the whole film. Even though Scarlett is most often a completely horrible person, you can't help but sympathise with her, not to mention being unable to take your eyes away from the screen when she's on it. It is truly one of the greatest performances of all time.

Clark Gable as Rhett Butler: I was not convinced by Gable until about half way through the film. It felt to me like he was only in the film because he was Clark Gable, and his smirk really irritated me. But by the film's end I really appreciated the performance. While not as good as Leigh's performance, Gable certainly impresses.

However, my favourite performance in the film is Olivia de Havilland as Scarlett's friend Melanie Hamilton. I've never seen de Havilland in anything else before, but I was completely captivated by her. Her character's incredible kindness and goodness radiated from the screen. I honestly can't praise her performance enough.

So there you have it: I completelythrived on a film that was made 50 years before I was born. Wowsa!

Verdict: Gone With the Wind is a masterpiece in every sense of the word!