The Birth Of A Nation

The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Runtime: I saw the version that's 187 minutes long

Directed by: D.W. Griffith

Starring: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper, Ralph Lewis

From: David W. Griffith Corporation

Yep, I watched this, one of the most controversial movies ever made. I could have written a whole lot about many different facets concerning this but I decided to try and be concise and my Letterboxd review is below. I'll return tomorrow night.

I have to note first that in the review I'll explain why I rated this the way I did. Second, I saw the 187 minute Kino Restored Edition. I figured I should clarify as there are multiple versions of this floating out there. Now with that out of the way...

I figured this was the proper year for me to watch then talk about the movie then never have to watch it ever again, considering it came out 100 years ago and all. What an unfortunate moment in film history that a critical motion picture which revolutionized movie-making* and contained such firsts as an original score, the usage of multiple angles per scene, authentic costuming in a period piece, editing and dissolves is for an epic film about two families (one from the North and the other from the South) that are friends and how things change once the Civil War starts... then deals with the aftermath and is so disgustingly racist throughout in its viewpoints and its portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan as heroes and “negroes” as sub-human white women loving monsters, that the KKK still uses it as a recruitment tool and the film caused an uprising in that gross organization's popularity right after it was first released.

Considering this was made only a half century after the Civil War ended, it does feel pretty authentic to how the war was actually like, and it was interesting to see how life was back then, how the battles were fought, how people felt about this crises, etc. There's some racism in the first part (throughout you see people in blackface), but once you see old Abe Lincoln assassinated at Ford's Theatre the floodgates are opened and the bigotry is in full force as you see the Reconstruction part of the movie, which is the second half. What a shame that a well-filmed movie like this-even 100 years later-has such a loathsome/perverted view of such things as race.

How a person here (or elsewhere) rates this is totally up to them and I'll understand just about any opinion given to it. Personally, I'll rate it as 2 ½ stars, mainly for all the innovations introduced here and still a part of film language today, and for the parts of the story that aren't drenched in bigotry. I mean, the battle scenes are still interesting due to the unique color and other effects used, and you know what's going on and what characters are feelings, and not just because there are title cards which explain things and there are few cards that contain dialogue. Such things as facial expressions and movements help tell the tale. I can't go above that due to the abominable viewpoints presented. It ruins you trying to enjoy the historical story being presented and especially in 2015 there are many moments that are just shocking and appalling today. Like I said, I now never have to see it again and if you're a film fan you should probably see it once... and that should be enough for you.

* I won't copy and paste so you can just look at this Filmsite article about the film which details all the innovations this motion picture brought us.