Monday, June 27, 2011

Movie Monday

Epic Battle Scenes... Share those battle scenes that are so epic, they make you stop everything to watch. Link back here to the Bumbles.

This one is tough for me, because I'm not a big fan of war movies. So I'm throwing myself on the mercy of The Bumbles and bending the rules a bit to show an epic scene regarding the aftermath of battle.

In Gone with the Wind, Melanie goes into labor at the worst possible time, as Sherman relentlessly heads toward Atlanta, leaving carnage in his wake. As Scarlett frantically searches for Dr. Meade at the Atlanta train station, she has to pick up her skirts to avoid smoth
ering the soldiers she steps over. It's an amazing scene visually -- opening tight on Scarlett and then pulling back and back, revealing more and more dead and dying boys and young men. Until there are nothing but bodies for as far as the eye can see.

Now I'm not only a Northerner but also a proud native of The Land of Lincoln, so the romance of the South and her "cause" has always been lost on me. Secession and slavery hold no nobility for this Gal. And yet this scene still packs an emotional wallop. War is a sad, ugly, painful, profane business. A heartbreaking tragedy for both sides.



7 comments:

  1. I wondered if anyone would pick this movie. Good choice of scene.

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  2. Good choice! That post-battle scene is powerful, and there's no doubt that battle is still raging even if you don't see it. I agree, it's not a sympathetic cause, but it does make the case for the enormous cost of war eloquently.

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  3. Anonymous11:12 AM

    I adore Gone With the Wind - both the book and the movie. Great choice.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. :)

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  4. Excellent post and choice! Always love reading what you have to say about films :)

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  5. Powerfully written. As usual!

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  6. Excellent choice. I couldn't help but share Scarlett's overwhelming sense of despair as the camera pans out and reveals the thousands of injured men. So powerful.

    I have a hard time watching the scene where the doctor informs an injured soldier that he is going to have to amputate his leg without anesthesia. *shudder*

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  7. Anonymous10:03 PM

    I know I was supposed to like this movie, and I do remember enjoying it. But aside from the town burning down, very little stayed with me.

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