THE BIRTH OF A NATION

The silent era, the age when films were being developed. I've reviewed landmark silent films such as..
"A TRIP TO THE MOON"


And

"THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY"
 


Well now it's time to review the film that didn't just bring in new film techniques but also is one of the most controversial films of all time (Even to this day).

This is a two act movie, so I'm going to review it based on each act.

ACT 1
 

The film centers around the history of the "Civil War" through the point of view of two families. The first act shows America during slavery, the "Civil War" battles, the loss of friends from the effects of the war, and the assassination of president Abraham Lincoln.

Our main characters are so far good but believe me once we hit act 2 you'll hate most of them. This act really shows the struggles of the effects of them during war. The fact that they were good friends but then turn on each other or die from war is really sad and captures the struggle most people had at the time. The scene when our hero comes home and sees his home destroyed captures the sadness of  war beautifully. The battle scenes are shot really good and bring those pictures we see in history books come to life. It's intense, graphic and looks like actual documented war footage. Just watch some of these sequences and notice not just how realistic it looks but also the many new techniques it did for film.

Taken from website "Greatest Films" (Which I recommend for any film nerd to check out)  here's a list of techniques that the film gave us...

1. The use of ornate title cards
2. Special use of subtitles graphically verbalizing imagery
3. Its own original musical score written for an orchestra
4. The introduction of night photography (using magnesium flares)
5. The use of outdoor natural landscapes as backgrounds
6. The definitive usage of the still-shot
7. Elaborate costuming to achieve historical authenticity and accuracy
8. Many scenes innovatively filmed from many different and multiple angles
9. The technique of the camera "iris" effect (expanding or contracting circular masks to either reveal and open up a scene, or close down and conceal a part of an image)
10. The use of parallel action and editing in a sequence 
11. Extensive use of color tinting for dramatic or psychological effect in sequences
12. Moving, traveling or "panning" camera tracking shots
13. The effective use of total-screen close-ups to reveal intimate expressions
14. Beautifully crafted, intimate family exchanges
15. The use of vignettes seen in "balloons" or "iris-shots" in one portion of a darkened screen
16. The use of fade-outs and cameo-profiles (a medium closeup in front of a blurry background)
17. The use of lap dissolves to blend or switch from one image to another 
18. High-angle shots and the abundant use of panoramic long shots
19. The dramatization of history in a moving story - an example of an early spectacle or epic film with historical costuming and many historical references (e.g., Mathew Brady's Civil War photographs)
20. Impressive, splendidly-staged battle scenes with hundreds of extras (made to appear as thousands)
21. Extensive cross-cutting between two scenes to create a montage-effect and generate excitement and suspense 
22. Expert story-telling, with the cumulative building of the film to a dramatic climax

Wow 22 new techniques that this film brought to the art of film making; that's really incredible!

What also brings the historical feel to the film is the recreation of key events during the war. Not just the battle scenes but also the Presidents point of view on the war and Robert E Lee surrendering. I think the best recreation of the war is the assassination sequence of Abraham Lincoln. The actor who plays Lincoln actually looks exactly like him; the death of Lincoln and the shock reaction from people looks realistic; and to make things sadder our main characters are at this tragic event in history. Also the music really captures the suspense and sadness. Speaking of Music, the score has to be one of the best scores that I’ve ever heard. It really brings you into the films atmosphere. It never at all sounds out of place in scenes; it actually helps give the film its flow and knows how to make the scenes happy or sad. I'm still amazed that the score is part of the new techniques that this film brought.

The Slavery scenes however aren't played in an intense way, they're played out in a stereotypical way. We don't see them get bossed around, but we do see them work while the classy white man watch, see them dance to amuse their master and on top of it they all look like stereotype caricatures. I guess the reason why they resemble more of a ministerial show than hard working slaves is because most of them are played by white actors in black face. If you think that's racist wait till you see what Act 2 has to bring.

ACT 2


Act 2 takes place during Reconstruction and shows the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. This is where things go from being historical to insultingly historically inaccurate.

The blacks in this act aren't just portrayed like a ministerial show; they're now portrayed as demons. Ever since the former slaves were free, you see them now as sleazy violent animals instead of regular human beings. In reality most of them didn't take revenge and tried to live a simple life or go back to serving the white folk not knowing where to go, but here they take some serious revenge. They kill and torture white people; invade the white people’s homeland; try to control the white people; and even try to rape the young white woman. What were the director and the writer thinking? Not only are blacks portrayed as evil people in this movie but so are the white people that support them. This film is just messed up as hell.

I think the most horrible racist scene in the whole movie is the death of Flora. In the first act we see Flora as a sweet little girl who grows up to be a fine young lady. While we see her merrily walk in the woods to fetch a pail of water, we see a creepy black man following her. He acts nice and asks to marry her, she responds by slapping him in the face and running away. The black guy then chases after her and now wants to rape her. The chase then leads to her standing on the edge of a cliff and commits suicide. That scene  shows the racism of the film, but it gets worse.

Since the blacks are portrayed as villains, guess who the heroes are...The Ku Klux Klan. I'm not kidding; the Nazis of the south are portrayed as heroes. That's like as if the Jewish people during the "Holocaust" are portrayed as greedy villains and the Nazis are portrayed as classy heroes. The KKK's look and act heroic in this film; the trial they give to a black man before they kill him is suppose to make you cheer for the Klan; and there's an epic battle where the KKK kill off most of the black man to save the white people and in the end they control the rest of the blacks. If this isn't shocking enough, we see Jesus and different gods blessing the KKK. This isn't just racist; it's evil, misleading and disgusting. Even the hero who we were rooting for in the "Civil War" becomes the creator of this gang of evil late trick or treaters.

This film is perhaps the most racist film that you’d ever see! It's stereotypical; and it's insultingly historically inaccurate.  This film didn't just change film, but it also gave re birth to the freaking KKK. What I really find shocking is, it was made in 1915 and it's still shocking to look at today. I don't highly recommend it but for those who love film it's worth at least one viewing. Yes, the films disgustingly evil but it plays a major important part in film history and without it we would have none of these techniques today.

RATING 2/5