The Birth of a Nation (1915) by D. W. Griffith — Movie Discussion

The Birth of a Nation (1915), directed by D.W. Griffith, is a silent film that is considered one of the most influential and controversial movies in film history. An epic about the American Civil War (1861–65) and the Reconstruction era that followed, it was groundbreaking for its technical and artistic innovations, such as its use of advanced editing, close-ups, fadeouts, narrative techniques, and spectacular, large-scale battle scenes. However, the film is also infamous for its deeply racist portrayal of African Americans and its glorification of the Ku Klux Klan. It presents a revisionist history of the Civil War and Reconstruction, depicting white Southerners as victims of Northern aggression and African Americans as dangerous and unfit for citizenship.

Based on the novel The Clansman (1905) by Thomas Dixon, the two-part epic traces the impact of the Civil War on two families: the pro-Union Stonemans of the North and the pro-Confederacy Camerons of the South, each on separate sides of the conflict. The first half of the film is set from the outbreak of the war through the assassination of Pres. Abraham Lincoln, and the concluding section deals with the chaos of the Reconstruction period. The movie was originally shown in two parts separated by an intermission

Despite its artistic and cinematic achievements, the film's racist content lead to the resurgence of the KKK, sparked widespread protests (the film was banned in several cities and states), and left a lasting impact on race relations in the United States. While the film is studied today for its technical brilliance and its influential contributions to cinematic language, it is also a stark reminder of how art can be used to propagate harmful and dangerous ideologies.

Please watch the movie in advance, available here.