Review of The Birth of a Nation (2016) by Steviegjd — 19 Oct 2016
The subjects of this movie, slavery in general and Nat Turner in specific, are important stories that need to be told. There have not been enough good movies made about these subjects, including this one.
There are many powerful and disturbing moments in The Birth of a Nation. For some people, these moments and the fact that these stories are not told often are enough for them to ignore the glaring flaws in the film.
The female characters are weak and need men to save them. Nat Turner's character is grossly oversimplified. There is a complete lack of subtlety and nuance in many scenes and with most of the evil characters.
Many of the shots are over-composed or overly staged. so that they just look fake. The actor director is far too in love with himself and that really hurts the film. To be sure, there are going to be racists (whether they are aware of it or not) who will hate this film because of their biases and bigotry.
, But while I respected the intent and motivations of the film maker, the end result is simply not a very good film. I rate it as I do because I wanted it to be great. It needed to be great. It just is not great.
It is worth seeing though. It merits discussion and reflection. I just wanted it to be better.
This review of The Birth of a Nation (2016) was written by Steviegjd on 19 Oct 2016.
The Birth of a Nation has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
