The Birth of a Nation (1915)

This film has some amazing visuals, and has some gripping moments, but it is let down by the elephant in the room, it is abhorrently racist, completely distorts history to fit its own narrative and glorifies a terrorist organisation. As such the rating is lower than it should be, because while every scene is well-made and some of them even iconic, when they're watched together, particularly in the second half, they form something that's unapologetically racist.

How can one properly review this film? It single handedly changed the world, something you can't say for many movies, but in some very negative ways as well as positive ones. It features some amazing set pieces, and totally altered the standard to how films should be made. It also featured a re-writing of history and appropriated extreme racism. The Birth of a Nation is a silent film, and if unaccustomed to it, it can be extremely tedious and confusing. This film suffered from this, even for more seasoned viewers of silent movies, perhaps because of its three hour runtime, or maybe because of its complex story that was impaired by the lack of any dialogue and clear editing. The acting was surprisingly more natural then most from this time era, but this also may have affected the overall film, because with no dialogue, it felt sometimes felt slow with little reason. D. W. Griffith directed this historical triumph, which changed Hollywood, the film industry and, along with some issues in the South involving violent black people and wrongly executed white people, brought back the Klu Klux Klan, which continues to have lasting effects to this day. Although portrayed as a historical film, the 'history' is completely fake, even though some people try to use this as an example of truth. So how do you review this film? It is best to average it out. In terms of actual filmmaking and historical relevance in the film history canon, this is a ten star movie. In terms of the problems this movie caused due to its unabashed racism, it's a solid zero. The film in terms of quality is about a five anyway, so it evens out. It is an interesting and rewarding watch, but not entirely entertaining. But no matter your favourite film, it has this one to thank.2.5 / 5

Disclaimer: I detest the KKK and White Supremacy This is possibly the greatest film ever made. While it is truly deplorable in what it condones and promotes, the propaganda aspect of the film is paralleled only by Triumph des Willens. Watching this movie in 2016 is a constant battle between feeling sympathetic towards the downtrodden white supremacist and remembering that that very same person that the movie is making you feel sympathetic towards is an absolutely terrible person. This movie makes me, a northern Jew, feel bad for the KKK at times. I have never before, and likely never will again, see a movie that I have so viscerally despised yet admired. It's enthralling and dangerous. It comes as no shock that this film helped renew the KKK after it came out. It's an important historical piece and also is possibly still the greatest film made over 100 years later. You need not be, and hopefully are not, a member of the KKK or a white supremacist to watch. Contextualizing it into modern history is something that is incredibly important.

To understand and speak about this film, one must first understand the context in which the movie was released. It was early 1915, the mindset of the people was very different to what it is today, the state of the film industry was also completely different. This is important to remember when reading the following review.The Birth of a Nation is undoubtedly one of the most impactful films ever released. Anybody who has done even the slightest bit of research into this film will understand that. However, it is also one of if not the most controversial films ever made. The film cut deep into the hearts of the African Americans particularly, and, after watching this, it's easy to understand why. The racism present in the movie is excruciatingly obvious and in your face. What makes matters worse is that it is also evident that the film-makers weren't trying to make it so, in order to arouse feelings of anger and frustration within us, oh no. Instead, the racism is filmed in a way that proves that it was the norm of that time to think this way about African people. This -frustratingly fundamental- part of the film is what has been the cause for more than a century of controversy. I will say that as a young guy in his twenties - who has grown up in a world that is all about equality of rights of all human beings, no matter what may separate them from ourselves - it was very difficult to sit through the second half of the movie. What is shown is both infuriating and disturbing. However, that's not to take away from the truly spectacular first-half.The first-half of the film really is something to behold. From the brilliant depiction of the events surrounding the Civil War, and that of the war itself, as well as the brilliantly acted romance story that is thrown in between, this movie is thoroughly engaging. The first half of the movie(90 minutes on the 3 hour version that I watched) is expertly crafted and pulled off with a style that was not the norm in the film industry at the time. I can't begin to explain the beauty of Liilan Giths performance in this movie, for my first Gith film, she completely and utterly blew me away. Henry B Walthall is also very impressive as the "hero" of the film. The cinematic techniques used by all-star director D.W. Griffith were groundbreaking at the time. The ambition and scope of the movie even more so. This was the first time a director had attempted to tell such a big and significant story with so much style and class.My enjoyment of the first half of this movie was more than enough to convince me and win me over to the quality of classic cinema. The racist and sometimes pointless second half did take away from the experience though. If you have an interest in film history and would like to see something that is a deep foundation of the birth of Hollywood, I would most definitely recommend this brilliant, albeit dated cinematic experience.