Review of The Birth of a Nation (2016) by Skeptic303 — 03 Nov 2016

The Birth of a Nation is based off of a true story that I have been previously unaware of. It is about Nat Turner and his eventual slave rebellion that lasted a couple of days (correct me if I'm wrong). The first thing to know about this movie was the price at which it was purchased at a festival by Fox Searchlight. For them to pay up $19 million for this film means that they expected it to be an awards favorite. However, that isn't the case really.

Admittedly, this was an easier disappointment to watch compared to the Free State of Jones, not just because the runtime is 15 minutes shorter, but the fact that this movie had much better scenes with character development and was definitely able to explore its themes. But similar to Free State of Jones, this movie took its sweet time to start; in fact the rebellion lasted for only 20 minutes of this movie. Arguably, it is possible to say that they wanted to build up character motivation (it is effective), but the characters do very little, and it leaves them empty in comparison to the complex environment around them.

In summary, this movie is boring to an extent, but not unlikable. To hear later that this movie flopped big time is a reminder to Fox Searchlight: the purchase may set records, but that doesn't mean the movie is entirely worth the price. I liked the imagery in this movie (though some moments are brutal and hard to watch) and I do feel that this movie needed to be made, but overall, it is lacking in a few key areas and only manages to earn a seal of acknowledgement.