Birth of a Nation (Silent)

Birth of a Nation (Silent)
A pivotal moment in film history. After The Birth of a Nation, nothing was the same: not the way audiences watched movies, not the way filmmakers created them. D.W. Griffith's jumbo-size saga of the Civil War expanded the boundaries of storytelling on the screen, conveying a richer, more complicated (and certainly longer) tale than anyone had seen in a movie before. The delicate relationships, the sad passage of time, the spectacular battle scenes all look as fresh and innovative today as they did in 1915. So do Griffith's brilliant actors, most of them--including favorite leading lady Lillian Gish--drawn from his regular stock company. What has become increasingly problematic about The Birth of a Nation is Griffith's condescending attitude toward black slaves, and the ringing excitement surrounding the founding of the Ku Klux Klan. Griffith, whose political ideas were naive at best, seemed genuinely surprised by the criticism of his masterwork, and for his next project he turned to the humanist preaching of the massive Intolerance. Despite protests, Birth sold more tickets than any other movie, a record that stood for decades, and President Woodrow Wilson famously compared it to "history written in lightning." That judgment has lasted. --Robert Horton
Customer Review: Still controversial
"The Birth of a Nation", D.W. Griffith's epic film of 1915, is an amazing look at early cinematography with a topic that is still discussed almost one hundred years after its premiere. The good news is that this film, even by modern standards, could not and would not be made today for obvious reasons, but as representative "history" it stands out. Divided into two equal parts, the film opens with two prominent families during the Civil War. The battle scenes are heroically portrayed and the long scene of Lincoln's assassination is one of the best. The second part, dealing with Reconstruction, is troubling yet fascinating to watch as hate disguised as bravery becomes the theme. The Klan (literally the "white knights on horseback") rise to many occasions to save their beleaguered friends and neighbors. The portrayal of blacks in the film is the most unsettling of all. Besides enjoying the performance of a very young Lillian Gish, what I liked most about "The Birth of a Nation" was its historic feel rather than its accuracy. If cinematography had been around earlier in the nineteenth century, one might very well assume that the characters, the action, the sets and the props would be just as one saw them in motion. I can understand why watching "The Birth of a Nation" would be distressing for many people today, but it helps to remember how far we've come as a country since 1915. With that in mind, I recommend seeing this monumental film.
Customer Review: The Version of The Birth of a Nation to Buy!
While it seems that many reviews posted on the DVD site aren't actually for this DVD, this review is specifically a review of Kino's Griffith Masterworks edition. The DVD contains the most complete version of The Birth of a Nation known and available. The film is 187 min. long on this disk. It is a beautiful print, well restored and re-tinted. A beautiful print. The musical score is clever and very entertaining too. I think of any bad thing to say about the disk. I think most know of the story line and its hints of racism. It's there and it can't be argued away. D.W. Griffith was a son of a Civil War soldier and grew up in the South. He used the book The Clansman by Thomas Dixon Jr. as it jibed with his own viewpoints and many of the day. The hero worship of the Klan actually encouraged its resurgence in late 1910s and 1920s into the 30s. The racism brought Griffith so much grief, he spent his life trying to justify his views and created Intolerance to offset the criticism. What brings The Birth of a Nation is its reliance on story and use of the film camera never tried before in the USA before. It is a cinema powerhouse and actually a pretty moving film. Never before had Americans seen the cinema come to life before. Some French, Italian and German filmmakers created feature films that are quite good and successful, but World War I basically destroyed their film industries and the US reigned supreme. DW Griffith took American film to the next level permanently. No longer were films relegated to the poorer urban areas and Nickelodeons. It was now a popular art form and respectable to attend the cinema. The DVD also includes a making of, and introduction by DW himself made in 1930, and several early versions of his Civil War films. It seems to me that because of the closeness to the time period, the films might indicate a closer idea of how former Confederates actually thought and how they remember the war.