{"id":4242,"date":"2016-10-07T09:42:49","date_gmt":"2016-10-07T16:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=4242"},"modified":"2016-10-07T09:42:49","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T16:42:49","slug":"review-the-birth-of-a-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=4242","title":{"rendered":"Review: THE BIRTH OF A NATION"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"screen-shot-2016-10-07-at-10-36-51-am\"<\/a>\"fixbutton\"<\/a>It is a matter of perspective.<\/p>\n

We watch the historical drama \u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d through our modern lens.\u00a0 And when the violence unfolds on screen as the bloody slave uprising takes place, some of us will shake our heads in disbelief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d is a significant film.\u00a0 It should be seen.\u00a0 And although it will be impossible to dismiss the controversy surrounding the film\u2019s production, acquisition, promotion, and uncertain release strategy, viewed in a vacuum, it makes a worthy double feature with filmmaker Ava DuVernay\u2019s excellent \u201cSelma.\u201d\u00a0 The two films capture the understandable response to oppression.\u00a0 Each film also serves to humanize historical figures, like DuVernay did for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in \u201cSelma,\u201d director Nate Parker makes us understand slave revolutionary Nat Turner.\u00a0 These were men first and heroic figures second.
\nThis 2016 \u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d is not to be confused with D. W. Griffith\u2019s iconic, but, shameful 1915 film by the same name.\u00a0 It is no mistake that writer\/director Nate Parker has appropriated the title for his film.\u00a0 And precisely because of this decision, Parker\u2019s film brilliantly reminds us of past cinematic missteps as well as the wrongness and evils of the era of slavery.<\/p>\n

Chronicling the life and exploits of slave preacher Nat Turner, \u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d exposes the intertwining of religion and slavery.\u00a0 Turner (played by the film\u2019s director Nate Parker) is singled out as a boy for his intelligence.\u00a0 The matriarch of a plantation, Elizabeth Turner (a lovely Penelope Ann Miller), decides to bring the boy Nat into her home and educate him.\u00a0 But when times get economically tough, Nat returns to the field to pick cotton. But Elizabeth is sure to share with Nat what she calls the greatest book ever written\u2014the Bible.<\/p>\n

Years pass, and in addition to distinguishing himself as a good worker, Nat becomes an accomplished preacher and orator. And this doesn\u2019t go unnoticed.\u00a0 The new head of the household, Elizabeth\u2019s tortured son Samuel (played by Armie Hammer), decides to rent Nat out in a exploitive effort to quell slave rebellion through religion.\u00a0 And the twisted highjacking of Christianity by insidious slave owners who have been enveloped by the evil of a corrupt and inhuman institution manages for a time to maintain the status quo.\u00a0 But as any Christian well knows, the good book doesn\u2019t condone slavery.<\/p>\n

In time, Nat can no longer misuse his faith, and in dream sequences, he remembers the faith of his people.\u00a0 His response to unspeakable oppression is bloody and, arguably, appropriate.\u00a0 When the violence starts in this film, it is almost too much to take.\u00a0 And viewed through our modern lens, hard to believe.\u00a0 But imagine what you would do?\u00a0 Imagine what choice an oppressed people might have? At that point in history, violent revolution was the response that any right thinking individual would expect.\u00a0 It\u2019s human.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d works because of the strength of it\u2019s director\/star\u2019s conviction\u2014most notably revealed in his piercing on-screen performance.\u00a0 Unfortunately, off-screen Nate Parker\u2019s moral high ground has suffered a terrible blow because he was once accused (along with his story co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin) of rape when he was a student at Penn State.\u00a0 Parker was arrested, and he was found not guilty by a jury that heard the facts of the case.\u00a0 But Celestin was convicted, although his conviction was later overturned on appeal.<\/p>\n

Much has been written about the Penn State case, and I mention it here only to point out the problem many are having separating the art from the artist or the message from the messenger.\u00a0 And while Parker no longer can serve as the proper spokesperson for his excellent work, others must take up the burden. \u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d should be seen by broad audiences while somehow ignoring the production\u2019s troubled back-story.\u00a0 But is that even possible?<\/p>\n

It is an understatement to say that there are race problems still brewing in this country. Without endorsing either side of the political spectrum, one telling statement at the first Presidential debate concerned the concept of \u201cimplicit bias.\u201d And VP candidate Mike Pence pointed out in this week\u2019s most recent debate that institutional bias exists in the criminal justice system.\u00a0 Reform was called for by both sides.\u00a0 Talking about the existence, non-existence, or potential of bias (in any form) is vitally important.\u00a0 And a fine film like \u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d should serve to extend that discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excellent \u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d keeps the conversation going…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4244,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4242\/revisions\/4244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}