Review of The Birth of a Nation (1915) by Dillon H — 29 Aug 2008

Probably the hardest film I've ever reviewed. How do you justify saying you liked a movie where the plot involves the KKK riding in as the heroic cavalry to overthrow the villainous Negroes who have overtaken the homeland? It's one of those things where you have to stop thinking about it as a cultural statement and look at it solely as a technical piece of art.

In that regard, it really is a stunning achievement. The battle scenes are very cool for 1915, and there's some really slick camera work going on that greatly influenced movies, well, practically till today.

For a 3+ hour silent film to hold my attention throughout is a testament to how good it actually is in spite of everything. I watched it at night, after a long day at work, and I didn't doze off even once.

So really, it's a great movie. But, at the end of the day it's still all about how terrible black people are. And if we've learned anything in the last 90+ years it's that that is not the case.

So it gets ***** for filmmaking, * for being racist as all get out, so we'll split the difference and call it ***.