Review of The Birth of a Nation (2016) by Ron F — 07 Oct 2016

This is a story that begged to be told for decades.

The film by Nate Parker is an admirable work with just the right amount of grit to leave you with a sense of wonder at how the peculiar institution of slavery endured so long. The retelling of the life of the historic Nat Turner was a bit of closure for me because I knew that his revolt was unsuccessful because of betrayal. To see how Parker brought it out was not how I expected based on the way he developed his characters. Kudos for the twist!

The growing apart of Nat's inherited master from himself, beginning as childhood playmates to master and slave, was well portrayed. Sam Turner succumbed to the power of wealth through slave ownership, alcohol and peer pressure. He learned quickly how to see slaves as a commodity and nothing else.

The harsh reality of the Bible being used to keep slaves in submission and illiterate only makes me wonder how so many people could be so cruel to another person. However, Black people were only considered to be three-fifths human at that time. Hence the subhuman treatment.