Movie Review: THE BIRTH OF A NATION 2016

almost 5 years ago (Edited)

The birth of a Nation is a 2016 movie written, directed and produced by Nate Parker, he was also the leading actor in this movie.

About the Movie:
In brief, The Birth of a Nation is a true story based on the life of Nat Turner (Nate Parker, ‘Non-Stop’), a son of slaves who would grow up to be a preacher. His master Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer, ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E’) would take Nat to other plantations to preach to the slaves in exchange for money. Life was horrible and so one day Nat decided to gather a few men to begin a revolution. it’s a great story to be told of a man rising up and fighting against injustice.

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Parker was the writer, director, producer and lead actor in this movie. It was all about him and it’s clear to see. In 1999 he was accused but then acquitted of rape. In this film there are two points where rape is referred to. Even though Parker was acquitted, it was still a controversial decision to have rapes in his movie.
There is also misogyny to the way the rapes were filmed in terms of who the camera was pointing at. In both cases we are made to feel sympathy for the husbands of the women raped. Although it is a horrific situation for them, it feels very uncomfortable to be looking at them as victims more so than the women who were actually raped.

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Despite the intriguing true story and the powerful images, the movie itself is let down by Parker’s script which is very formulaic and to be frank average. Scenes and dialogue that should stir up emotion simply left me feeling flat.
As far as the acting, Parker was in almost every scene but was pretty melodramatic in his performance.

I was really expecting something epic when I first heard the plot of The Birth of a Nation. After the controversy of the 2016 Academy Awards nominations (which I believe was unfounded) it sounded like this was going to be something special.