Review of The Birth of a Nation (2016) by Indi V — 09 Oct 2016

Our triple threat is really more of a double threat, but this is a solid movie.

The film tells the story of Nat Turner and the rebellion he led in 1831. Nate Parker, who stars as Turner, also wrote and directed the movie. So let's start with his performance. Parker the actor does an admirable job. His performance all around is very good. He gets a lot of fire and brimstone speeches to give as he's giving his sermons and he delivers them with gusto. His arc feels natural as he goes from preacher to revolutionary and his charisma shows why people follow him.

Parker the writer does a solid job, too. The script is rather good. Not much negative to say there.

Parker the director, however, has a few missteps. There's a few scenes in the film that feel a tad weird, including the very first one where the young Nat Turner takes part in some kind of bizarre ritual. Did this ritual happen? Was it a delusion (there has been speculation Turner suffered from delusions)? The film sprinkles scenes like that throughout the movie and there's even a few quick cutaway shots to a girl dressed in all white, an obvious angel reference that shows up a few times and just feels kind of weird.

The ending goes on a little too long. There's a fantastic and haunting image of several people hanging from a tree, dead, that would have made a fantastic closing shot. However, the film decides to show us Turner's execution and a scene where he talks to wife. Aside from that, it's a solid movie.