Review of The Birth of a Nation (2016) by Leroy D — 12 Oct 2016
This movie is the definition of style over substance. It's more interested in artistic imagery than telling an actual story. So what you end up getting for 2/3rds of the movie is the same run of the mill slave story that you seen before.
You know every single thing that's going to happen before it happens. The last third of the movie, which is the slave revolt, ends so fast you feel like you got cheated out of the movie you REALLY wanted to see.
The movie does touch on some points like how Nate used religion both to keep men slaves and how he and his Master were actually friends at one point, but it never drives any of those points home. You can pretty much tell they're not bothering with being historically accurate, and after doing some research I was right.
In the end it doesn't even feel like a biopic, just a fictional movie with Nat Turner's name to put butts in the seats.
This review of The Birth of a Nation (2016) was written by Leroy D on 12 Oct 2016.
The Birth of a Nation has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
