Customer Reviews

Birth of a Nation Silent Film Plus Bo

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

D. W. Griffith's film "Birth of a Nation" ranks as a significant piece of myth-making activity on behalf of "The Cause" of the Southern Cofederacy, of (caucasian) national unity as the Great War was underway in Europe, and of perpetuating hideous stereotypes of African Americans. Every North American will profit from watching the film and thus coming to understand how their forebears had been propagandized concerning "the race question" in the not-so-distant past.
The edition under review here does pose some problems. The attending musical background to the film is often annoying, in that it does not correspond to the actions on the screen. Further, gaps in the film exist that, while they do not rob the film of continuity, distract the viewer and leave him/her wondering what was missed. Perhaps that is why this edition is inexpensive.

I played this DVD when I got it and there was about 20-30 minutes of it that wouldn't play. So I returned it and got another one. It was broken in the exact same place. So I returned it and got a refund. I ordered the same film from another manufacturer also through Amazon.com. It was more expensive but that one worked fine.
I am very satisfied with the return policy of Amazon. They make it very to return things (they give you a shipping label to print) and they will exchange or refund returns very promptly.

At over 90 years old, this is an amazing film and well worth seeing by those suffering from a lifetime of Yankee propoganda concerning the War Between the States. This was the first film to deal with the deprivation suffered by Southern people after the war, when northern carpetbaggers and corrupt state governments further exploited them. Griffith thinly veils some of more notorious northern hypocrits involved in the anti-slavery movement. After all, both slavery and secession originated in the North.
The film incorporates several revolutionary film techniques for 1915 and was based on the book, "The Klansman" and "The Leopard's Spots" by Thomas Dixon. A reading of these would be interesting in finding out where Margrett Mitchell really got "Gone With the Wind".
This film was highly controversial in its own time, even picketted by the NAACP in major cities. True, there are several portrayals of black folks to shock our modern sensibilities. This is not to say the film is not worthwhile. More shocking is the film's ability to cut so close to the truth as to make the establishment very uncomfortable.
This film is a classic, and more true to history than anyone cares to admit. It basically ended Griffith's career, as he was forced to work under assumed names for daring to be so "politically incorrect".

As Eisenstein said, "the disgraceful propaganda of racial hatred toward colored people which permeates this film cannot be redeemed by purely cinematographic effects in this production."