SPOILER ALERT! This comment includes some information which could possibly be construed as spoilers of film plot, however minor. So please be forewarned before reading anything beyond this point.
This is not a review so much as a thank-you to the uploader of this file, for cleverly sharing (without using the actual title of the work) a cinema classic with what is regarded as the Internet's public library.
I am fearful that with the volatile political situation in the world films such as this may become prohibited from public availability, and perhaps even destroyed should extremist elements (and they exist on the political left and right) have the opportunity to do so, as if to destroy a book, film, musical recording or play would erase history. Creative works which advocate and/or depict unpleasant events should never be banned or destroyed, but remain as evidence and/or reminders of what actually happened and/or which points of view were advocated.
And actually, the film in discussion here is based upon a fictional work anyway, its main theme the interpersonal relationships of the central characters and how they survived a tragic period of American history, which is, basically, accurately depicted in the picture. The film is certainly not a propaganda work to gain sympathy for the 19th Century American South and its cause so much as to promote an understanding of some of those people and how even innocents in the South suffered by having wound up on the losing and unpopular side of history simply on account of the situation of their births. It could also be argued some black slaves (in addition to their white masters) suffered more as a consequence of the Civil War than previous to the events of the war, due to the massive amount of human suffering (from starvation, displacement, disease, etc.) caused by war. Not all slaves were whipped or physically mistreated, even though, by virtue of involuntary servitude, they were also not free citizens.
Actually, the black slaves in the film are among the most likeable characters. So the film is hardly a pro-Negro slavery work, far from it. But just because a film depicts racial slavery doesn't mean it is advocating the practice, may just be telling things as how they were in a certain period of history. In this film, the political situation merely serves as a backdrop against which a romantic storyline is enacted, and how the central characters--a mix of antagonists and protagonists--survive (or do not) the turmoil.
The producer of the film (David O. Selznick) also made sure to remove the most offensive word to American blacks before the screenplay was completed. And most of the violence depicted in the film is against Southern soldiers, with the exception of a few.instances of retaliation, in self-defense, by civilians against Northern elements. Other than those incidents, the other violence in the film would be considered sexual violence, face-slaps between romantic partners (including women hitting men), etc., and one possible incident of marital rape, still debated to this day, but in the time the film was made the practice considered the right of the married man in relation to his female spouse.
Some have also seen the film as a cinematic metaphor for the tragedies then unfolding in the U.S. and the world, a devastating economic period called the :'Great Depression' having just passed and much of the world involved in what was to become known as World War II in just a few short years, producing more victims (on all sides) of different degrees, as all wars do. In fact, I suppose it could be stated the main antagonist of the film uploaded here to the Internet Archive is the American Civil War (or, in light of what is happening in the United States in this early part of the 21st Century, the First American Civil War).
So once again, thank-you, Megamedia, for sharing one of the greatest films in the history of cinema, an accolade which hasn't changed one iota just because of the current political climate in the United States.This film has always been and will always be a great work of film-making.