Review of The Birth of a Nation (1915) by Sebastian T — 17 Feb 2009

This must have been ridiculously amazing to audiences of the day. I know I remember even being amazed the first time I saw it. It is wonderfully entertaining and expansive. Attempting to see it through the eyes of an African-American of the 1910's, like the now older gentlemen in the documentary feature that comes with the disc, is a bit disturbing.

Its easy to see why it so incendiary. It is also easy to see why it was so successful. It is a monumental work compared with other films of the day. I don't love Griffith, but I do love what he helped do to the motion picture industry, namely help turn it from a fledgling low-brow industry into something approaching an art form.

He certainly helped pave the way for the more artistically original and brilliant directors of the 20's, early 30's and beyond (Robert Weine, Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, Ernst Lubitsch, Charlie Chaplin, John Ford, Jean Renoir, Sergei Eisenstein, Luis Bunuel, Rouben Mamoulian, Alfred Hitchcock, G.

W. Pabst, Josef von Sternberg, Howard Hawks, Frank Capra, Jean Vigo, etc). These directors were almost certainly influenced by Griffith, either knowingly or otherwise. I doubt the cinema have matured in the same fashion without him.

This is sort of an obligatory 4 stars due to its place in the history of cinema. It must have been something to see it with a live full orchestra though.