What is so great about the movie 'Birth of a Nation'?!
Question: why does the american film institute rank birth of a nation so highly? its a silent film. its hard to follow. its grainy looking. and its a silent film. where is the greatness? i am following their list of the top 100 greatest american films and purchasing and viewing each one starting with 'Citizen Kane'. im not disappointed until i get to birth of a nation. i run all over town looking for it and nobody has it. i order it and wait. i pay for it and get it home and its a silent movie.
Answers: why does the american film institute rank birth of a nation so highly? its a silent film. its hard to follow. its grainy looking. and its a silent film. where is the greatness? i am following their list of the top 100 greatest american films and purchasing and viewing each one starting with 'Citizen Kane'. im not disappointed until i get to birth of a nation. i run all over town looking for it and nobody has it. i order it and wait. i pay for it and get it home and its a silent movie.
and its a racist movie,bingo
The movie was very influential for its time because it spurred a reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan, and is controversial for its glorification of the KKK. It greatly degrades African Americans, and promotes the superiority of the white race, making it a very uncomfortable film to watch nowadays.
Just because it is a silent film does not make it far less superior, just as very little special effects and being black and white doesn't make Casablanca any less of a great movie. Birth of a Nation should be watched as just a part of American history, one of the worst parts yes, but that only made the civil rights movement even more poignant.