Review of The Birth of a Nation (1915) by Jesse R — 29 Jan 2008

This is easily the most offensive movie I have yet to see. To put this in some perspective, I would watch Pink Flamingos before seeing this film again because at least the John Waters film has a sense of humor.

The final third of this three-hour epic is more distasteful than the dog shit eating antics of a 300-pound transvestite. And yet, the movie revolutionized how movies were made, laying down the basic grammatical elements of narrative movie making that endure to this day.

But, considering this film's social politics aided in a resurgence of KKK activity in this country in the early 20th century, how do we--let alone can we--look at this film? At the very least, it is an epic, historical curio and an admittedly marvelous piece of storytelling--I'm socially liberal but by the climax of the film I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the Klan to ride in and save the day, so one can only imagine my personal sense of dismay and moral corruption when the end credits began to roll.

Additionally, the film gives you the opportunity to see what goes through the head of a racist person and pick apart and understand exactly why their line of thinking is so horribly wrong.