The Birth of a Nation (1915)'s comments - page 2

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nicolaskrizan

horrifying and fascinating

11 years 1 month ago

A very good film, great plot, good acting, great action, great editing, great camerawork.

It gets downvoted a lot because of its racism, and yes, some titles are quite shocking. This film made it into most theaters, why? Today, a film like this would be banned before seeing the light of day. You may be surprised, things were different back in 1915. But it did get a lot of criticism as well (some people make you believe that EVERYBODY hated blacks in 1915, this is not true). It was banned by some cities/theaters.

Before you give this film an excessively low rating, you should familiarize yourself with some of the historical aspects and other 'facts' concerning this film. For example Griffith's background, or the southern states for that matter. A good start is to read Richard Schickel's biography on D.W. Griffith. Also keep in mind how you would regard this film without the racism. Other films from 1915 really do not offer anything even close to this movie. Maybe some Italian films do, but I have seen too little of those.

I do not ignore the racism. It's the main thing I do not like about this film, just like almost everybody else. And it does affect my rating. But I do not ignore its qualities either.

13 years 3 months ago

Paper_Okami

I agree with Max revolutionary ,but racist and boring.

13 years 9 months ago

ansver

I think it would be far better idea to get black cast painted in white!

9 years 9 months ago

SkilledLunatic

The worst part about this film it's the running time. By the end of the second act (assasination of Lincoln) you're left wondering there is still more than a hour left?
Technically it's amazing, specially considering it was made, more than a decade before my grandmother was even born.
Personally, I didn't liked the beginning but after the war, things started to get better, and by the time of Lincoln's assassination, I cared about some of the characters.

10 years 9 months ago

JoeMorrissy

Very racist but still a good watch espically if you watch with your own music on in the background, instead of the headache inducing crap it had on originally.

12 years 8 months ago

george4mon

very boring i thought it would never end!!

12 years 1 month ago

Dieguito

Nice movie, incredible soundtrack, all songs are well knows classics. Just a little too long for a silent movie..

12 years 8 months ago

rafalopez2008

(removed by mod: please post in English)

13 years 10 months ago

tippaty

Couldn't make it through the whole film because it dragged on and was incredibly boring. Someone should just make a version with all the most racist bits for people like me who were interested in the controversial aspect.

12 years 2 months ago

Llanirev

To everyone who says 'but racist' as a reason why the movie is bad: Ofcourse it is. The people in USA did not know any better in 1915. In that, it is a perfect image of it's time and very educational.

13 years 4 months ago

hyvaa

The first part of the movie is about the north-south battle in America in 1860s and assasination of Lincoln. Second part is about the so-called black rebellion in South.
This movie is considered as a revolutionary piece of its time in regard of movie technics whereas watching it in 21st century could still be a little boring. It takes 190 minutes.
A note to be highlighted for this movie about director Griffith is that white people painted in black preffered as actor rather than original black people which causes him to be accused as a racist.

11 years 1 month ago