Score: **** out of ***** (A-)
Directed by Nate Parker
Starring Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King
Running time: 120 minutes
Rated R
Long Story Short: The Birth of a Nation tells the life story of Nat Turner, who led perhaps the most famous slave rebellion in American history. Once hailed as a sure Oscar contender, the film has found controversy via news of criminal allegations in filmmaker Nate Parker's past. The film is solid if flawed, but worth pushing past the noise surrounding it to see it and confront its issues for yourself.
In the early 1800s, young Nat Turner (Parker) lives as a slave on a Virginia plantation. His father flees, his fate unknown, when he kills a white man in an altercation and so Nat is raised by his mother and grandmother. The matron of the plantation takes Nat in to be educated when she discovers that the boy has an inclination to read, and years later he begins preaching to the other slaves on the plantation. Samuel (Hammer) becomes the head of the plantation and frequently takes Nat with him on his travels, having played with him when the two were young. When visiting town one day, Nat urges Samuel to purchase a female slave at auction, and the two end up growing close and marrying. Once thriving, the Turner plantation comes on hard times and so Samuel takes Nat to other plantations in the area to preach to other slaves for a fee.
On his preaching visits, Nat is exposed to shocking conditions and barbaric acts of cruelty endured by slaves. Confronted with such pain, suffering and injustice, Nat agonizes over not just the words he brings to his brothers - carefully selected passages from white men seeking to justify their actions - but also what he can and should do in accordance with his faith.
The Birth of a Nation features a sizable and generally strong cast. Nate Parker - who also directed, wrote, and produced the film - stars as the famed Nat Turner. He is a charismatic man who commands focus on the screen, particularly in intimate personal moments with his wife and family. Nate also portrays a convincing evolution in his character from quiet, thoughtful, gentle man of faith to increasingly despairing and enraged as his eyes are opened to the full horrors of his world. Among his multiple roles in the film, Parker's acting might be the strongest. Beyond Parker's Turner, all other characters are supporting. Armie Hammer does an OK job as Turner's slaveholder, though he struggles with Samuel's darker turns later in the film. Jackie Earle Haley, an actor much more familiar with ugly roles than Hammer, effectively plays a stereotypical white goon. Unfortunately, there are not any other black characters of real depth beyond Nat; even his wife played by Aja Naomi King is largely a plot device. Esther Scott does do well, however, as his grandmother.
For all the controversy surrounding Nate Parker and his film, The Birth of a Nation itself is actually a fairly straightforward film, not as harrowing as 12 Years a Slave. The film literally goes from the beginning to the end of Nat Turner's life, and he is the focus from start to finish. Thanks to his strong performance, Parker keeps the audience engaged throughout even when the script or pacing wander at times. There are a number of powerful scenes and images to convey the horror of slavery, though admittedly having seen 12 Years I found myself slightly less impacted. Those of you who have also seen that film will likely find that Birth of a Nation deals with the portrayal of slavery with less subtlety and power, though well enough anyway. To be fair, Birth's tone is more consistent than 12 Years, as it - consciously or not - finds a stable middle ground between stark realism and Hollywood drama. Having a standard plot and tone, The Birth of a Nation most unsettled me in Nat's turn to violence. I don't attempt to defend slave owners but I felt a significant pang of regret when Turner, a good man and one of faith, turns to brutality himself. Parker as actor and filmmaker tries as hard as he can to tell us that Nat simply embraced his destiny, but I felt his turn to revenge was more worthy of heart break rather than victory in the noose. There were no winners, only victims.
I have not read extensively about the news surrounding Nate Parker, but even a basic awareness leads to some interesting thoughts on the film - both intended and not. Parker has asserted the film's relevance to our society today, but it wasn't apparent to me at first since I essentially viewed it as a biopic. However, I now see the parallels to the black lives matter movement. The black community is still witness to, yet largely helpless to prevent, the violent suffering of so many of its members - whether at the hands of law enforcement or inner turmoil - and this must lead to a tremendous urge to do something when words alone seem to fail. I would hope that the follow-up message to that is that more violence is NOT the answer... yet beyond that, there is frustratingly little I can say. Another topic that arises is the treatment of women, coming into the spotlight with Parker's acquittal of sexual assault charges in 1999. Birth of a Nation includes several sexual assaults (not shown) which help fuel Parker's rage yet are not apparently historically accurate (or at least confirmed). The women of the film generally are victimized or at least relegated to the sidelines in favor of male counterparts. It's difficult to avoid an association between Parker's previous actions and his portrayal of women in the film, one that shows them as passive and at the mercy of men for better or worse.
***
The Birth of a Nation is a flawed yet intriguing film, deceptively simple in many ways yet oddly an important one (set +150 years ago) for today's audience. I have had the pleasure and humbling learning experience of seeing several films on the black experience over the last few years, including The Butler, 12 Years a Slave, Selma, and now Birth. I recommend seeing all of them, if simply because they are all very good (though Birth of a Nation lags significantly behind the others in this regard). In addition they each have something important to say, each connected to the others yet with its own unique perspective. While Birth of a Nation doesn't rise to the level of the others in quality, it may make up for that in the important discussions and debates it can inspire - about gender as well as race. As a white male I do not pretend to understand let alone feel these issues as others do, but I hope that the films have played a part in helping me to be a better citizen in our diverse, messy, unfair world that needs more love. I urge all to support films like Birth of a Nation which act as just one way but a very public and accessible way to continue the process.
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50559876
