Review of The Birth of a Nation (2016) by Jonathan B — 06 Nov 2016

The movie drowns in its own storytelling. There are some notable historical stuff left out which paints Nat Turner in a better light. The problem is that the movie makes it like Turner had no flaws, which implies that his actions were all justified. The actual rebellion doesn't happen until the final 30 minutes which doesn't live up to its ironic title. The funny thing is that the entire cast was great, except for star and director Nate Parker. Taking the title roles seemed to be a big challenge and you can see it in his scenes. His directing tries to be many things, but has a problem being its own thing. There have been better films about slavery. This one just seemed like a bigger budget TV movie.

Grade: B-.