Review of The Birth of a Nation (2016) by Dohn S — 09 Jun 2016

The cinematography and settings were wonderful, the acting was all around good, and the depiction of the malicious slaughter of sleeping people by Turner's militia was horrifyingly poignant. My gripe was the blatant and glaring revisionist history.

While I get movies based on historical events tend to be ignorant of certain things, this was a bit much. They completely downplayed Turners reported mental illness and his religious zealotry. Not to mention the fact that his whole idea of leading a rebellion was because he believed god was talking to him.

Not covering the outcome of the massacre/rebellion was also a mistake as it makes it appear Turner's actions were anything but a colossal failure. His actions resulted in him and most of his army to get the death sentence, white militias taking vengeance by murdering as many as 200 blacks, and the passing of even more restrictive laws for black slaves and free blacks.

Unfortunately, people giving this a standing ovation either don't care about history or prefer revisionist history.