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The Birth of a Nation

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Hangman
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« on: September 05, 2011, 05:41:57 pm »

The Birth of a Nation



The most successful and artistically advanced film of its time, The Birth of a Nation has also sparked protests, riots, and divisiveness since its first release. The film tells the story of the Civil War and its aftermath, as seen through the eyes of two families. The Stonemans hail from the North, the Camerons from the South. When war breaks out, the Stonemans cast their lot with the Union, while the Camerons are loyal to Dixie. After the war, Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall), distressed that his beloved south is now under the rule of blacks and carpetbaggers, organizes several like-minded Southerners into a secret vigilante group called the Ku Klux Klan. When Cameron's beloved younger sister Flora (Mae Marsh) leaps to her death rather than surrender to the lustful advances of renegade slave Gus (Walter Long), the Klan wages war on the new Northern-inspired government and ultimately restores "order" to the South. In the original prints, Griffith suggested that the black population be shipped to Liberia, citing Abraham Lincoln as the inspiration for this ethnic cleansing. Showings of Birth of a Nation were picketed and boycotted from the start, and as recently as 1995, Turner Classic Movies cancelled a showing of a restored print in the wake of the racial tensions around the O.J. Simpson trial verdict.
Reviews by Rotten Tomatoes
Scored 'fresh' by Rotten Tomatoes

100%Tomatometer score: 100% positive reviews from professional critics.

percent positive reviews

    Positive review
    Variety Staff, Variety "Birth of a Nation is a great epoch in picture making; it's great for pictures and it's great for the name and fame of David Wark Griffith. When a man like Griffith in a new field can do what he has done, he may as well be hailed while he is living." – Full review External link
    Positive review
    Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader "Griffith's later films are unquestionably superior. But here, in a very real sense, is where the movies began, both as an art and as a business." – Full review External link
    Positive review
    Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times "It is an unavoidable fact of American movie history, and must be dealt with." – Full review External link

Read more reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Elric
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« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2011, 07:19:41 pm »

Technical achievements aside, one of the most racist movies ever made.  And it was the box office champ until Gone with the Wind came out.
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Trevor Proffitt
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« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2015, 02:12:25 am »

Can't believe this film is so lauded, as racist as it is.
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