The Birth Of A Nation (Silent With Music Soundtrack) (DVD)

The Birth of a Nation is a black and white silent film from 1915. It’s not a film I had heard of before, and the reason I watched it was because it was on the film list for a course I am taking at university.

The film is based on a novel by Thomas Dixon called ‘The Clansmen’. I had read up a little bit about the film before I started watching it so I wasn’t as surprised as I might have been about the content. The film was (and still ...
...quite racist!

The film was regarded as a very important film in its day as it used many new filming techniques which hadn’t been seen before. This is one of the main reasons that it was chosen as part of my course. I found the film interesting as I had never seen anything like it before, although I understand why it is seen as controversial and I don’t agree with the views in the film, but I can see why it was important in the history ... more

The Birth of a Nation is a black and white silent film from 1915. It’s not a film I had heard of before, and the reason I watched it was because it was on the film list for a course I am taking at university.

The film is based on a novel by Thomas Dixon called ‘The Clansmen’. I had read up a little bit about the film before I started watching it so I wasn’t as surprised as I might have been about the content. The film was (and still is) controversial for promoting white supremacy, and I thought most of it was quite racist!

The film was regarded as a very important film in its day as it used many new filming techniques which hadn’t been seen before. This is one of the main reasons that it was chosen as part of my course. I found the film interesting as I had never seen anything like it before, although I understand why it is seen as controversial and I don’t agree with the views in the film, but I can see why it was important in the history of film making.

The film is silent but has orchestral music playing throughout. There are also handy screens before each scene telling you what is happening, which is good otherwise it would get very confusing as it is quite a complex film.

The film is based around two families, the Camerons and the Stonemans. One family is from the South, the other from the North. The sons from both sets of families were great friends, and then the civil war broke out between the North and South and the families were made to fight against each other. After the North wins the war, and after President Lincoln is assassinated, the Stonemans move to the South. Mr Stoneman is now the highest power as Lincoln is dead, and he moves to try to give power to the slaves of the South and to see his policies are being carried out.

The eldest Cameron son is not happy with this. The newly freed slaves now have the right to vote, and also are allowed to intermarry. He feels like they are taking over the South. One of them terrorises his youngest sister and she jumps to her death to get away from him. After this Ben Cameron decides that something needs to be done and he can’t just stand by let the South be overtaken by the black people. He then comes up with an idea about disguising himself and trying to scare the slaves and put them back in their place, where he thinks they belong. He gathers some friends together and they start terrorising all the black people of the South, dressed in their white disguises. He has started a group called the Ku Klux Klan. Will he manage in campaign? You’ll have to watch the film to find out what happens.. but I think a lot of people know the history of the KKK already.

The film is made up of two parts with an break in between. This is clearly shown in the film when a big black screen pops up saying ‘Second Part - Reconstruction’. The film is quite long at just over 3 hours so I took a break whilst watching it, as 3 hours of silent film is quite a lot to take in one sitting!

I was quite shocked with how heroic the film made the Ku Klux Klan out to be, it really demonised black people and made it seem like they were all criminals and ruffians who were trying to take over America. The film seems completely against equality and makes it clear that white people should rule over everything. Although I had read about the film before seeing it and knew a bit about the storyline, I was still shocked to see how the film idolised the KKK, they are seen as the heroes of the whole state.

I am glad I watched the film, it is quite interesting to see a film from so long ago and see the viewpoint of the director, although I disagree with what he is trying to promote. It is worth watching as it is such an important film in film history, even if it is so controversial.

The film is available to buy from Amazon for £14.48.
 

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