The Birth of a Nation dvd movie.|
The Birth of a Nation cheap dvd videos, dvd movies for sale |
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List Price: $9.99 Features • Black & White • Color • DVD-Video • NTSC In Theaters : 03 March, 1915 DVD Release : 21 November, 2000 |
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The Birth of a Nation description 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 se ... review details |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | Yes, 5 stars ... but with a disclaimer. |
| The use of changing camera angles, breathtaking battle scenes involving literally hundreds of actors and extras, and manipulating colored lens filters to alter the mood were revolutionary techniques during an age when moving pictures was still in its infancy, as the 1915 film is a visual masterpiece.
Sadly, beneath this masterful portrayal of the Civil War and the ensuing Reconstruction period lies a treacherous ulterior motive: To serve as justification for the formation and existence of the Klu Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization that uses terror, violence and murder to advance its racist agenda. The three-hour silent film has two acts - much like a theatre production with an intermission - the first of which begins by introducing main characters and setting the stage for the War from the social and political perspective of the Confederate South. However, from almost the first frame the wheels of propaganda begin to turn. Immediately following the introductory titles, words on the screen claim that Africans brought "disunion" upon the country, incredulously blaming the victims for their own enslavement. Then, the audience is introduced to the blissful Cameron family, a brood of Southern planters living in the proverbial lap of luxury. Repeatedly, the audience is shown harmonious imagery, to suggest once-happy times and to foreshadow the figurative storm just over the horizon: Family members embracing and kissing each other repeatedly, a hinting at future romance in the cotton fields (as smiling slaves work dutifully in the background), even frolicking pets on the front porch. Then begin the truly disturbing images. After a title screen that mentions a "two-hour interval" for dinner for the slaves - perhaps to suggest by some bizarre logic that they were somehow fortunate in their enslavement - we are shown a boisterous scene in which Africans have congregated outdoors en masse to dance and play uproariously, with exaggerated smiles and motions to possibly suggest an innate immaturity that requires paternalism on the part of the white South for their continued survival. The scene concludes with a gleeful handshake between a black and a white, as if sealing the unspoken agreement of race roles: master and servant, superior and inferior. The underlying message here is such: Once upon a time, We (the white South) were happy, the slaves were happy, a kind of "Don't fix it if it ain't broke" mentality. But then, from the film's perspective, the North proceeds to break it. We see Abraham Lincoln bowing under the pressure to sign a law authorizing the federal government to intervene in the affairs of the states on the issue of abolitionism, with scores of politicians hovering over him like vultures as he readies his ink quill pen. Afterwards, as the men recede into the background, the President dabs his forehead and eyes with a handkerchief, to suggest his inner disapproval. Next, we are introduced to the "villain" in the story, a Thaddeus Stevens-look-alike who bumbles with his hairpiece and falls prey to the charms of a female mulatto housekeeper, a vindictive character thus proven by her spitting at the back of an unwavering male that spurns her advances. Her involvement as an influential "devil" on Stevens' shoulder is cemented later on, in the second act of the film. At the prospect of future conflict with the Northern aggressors, the South romanticizes war by staging bonfires and hosting extravagant ballroom affairs on the eve of battle, to again suggest the pageantry and purity of the Southern way of life. The following morning, the Confederate troops depart amongst cheering and waving onlookers (even their slaves cheer in approval) with bugles blaring. Accompanied by a triumphant musical score playing in the background, an affectionate father points out a patriotic banner to his adoring child over a threshold, which reads: "Our cause is just." Two years later, the war is going badly for the Confederates. The Southern town of Piedmont is raided by black troops (who appear childish and poorly-trained) led by a white "scalawag" sergeant, the Cameron home is invaded and trashed, and the family females hide in a storage room in the cellar, fearful for their safety. As expected, the Confederates honorably come to the rescue, storm the house and restore order to the town, symbolically saving the sexual purity of Southern women, a theme that is heavily relied upon in Act Two. The film then transports us to the warfront, which titles promote as "the breeder of hate" and "useless," where the "Little Colonel" - one of the three Cameron sons fighting on behalf of the South - shows such heroism and bravery on the battlefield that even the Unionists applaud his efforts, an opposing officer sparing his life out of sheer doting admiration. Obviously, the point of all this is simple: To clearly define the "good" and "bad" sides, to suggest that men as honorable and self-sacrificing as the Little Colonel - which implies the Confederates and their cause - could not possibly be on the wrong side of history, conveniently ignoring the immorality of slavery itself. The film goes as far as to bring the divine into the fray, as just prior to the Colonel charging off into certain death at the hands of the Union forces, the camera cuts to the Cameron patriarch praying on a Bible, suggesting that it was "God's Will" that the Confederates prevail in this battle, or perhaps worse: That God had a grander purpose in sparing the life of the Cameron son, so that he would one day form the Klan. In Act Two, the racist stereotypes and innuendos increase tenfold. The opening title of the second act begins with a quote from President Woodrow Wilson, praising the KKK. President Lincoln, oddly portrayed as the "Best Friend of the South" (considering the earlier scene in which he approved the legislation that started the war) and the final buffer shielding them from Northern Radicals like Stevens, has already been assassinated. As a result, Stevens - or Stoneman, as he is called in the film - becomes a "king" and bane of the South, promoting the mulatto housekeeper to a higher position of trusted confidant, perhaps lover. In his chambers with his loyal Northern minions, Stoneman proclaims a male mulatto named Lynch (coincidence?), "the equal of any white man" and summarily dispatches him to Piedmont to tell the Freedmen to stop working, show disrespect to the white man, call for black suffrage and advocate interracial marriage, which reflects a deep-seeded racist fear of black sexuality that is a repeated theme in the second half of the film, and will be addressed again later. The pace increases, and so do the stereotypes and historical inaccuracies. Freedmen get the vote, and black troops are shown forcefully discriminating against whites at the voting booth to put blacks in office. These newly-elected Freedmen representatives are shown sleeping in their seats irresponsibly, drinking alcohol and cheering uproariously at the passage of a bill that would allow intermarriage, again aiming for that age-old racist nerve. Then, in an unrelated scene, a black magistrate appeals to an all-black jury in a court of law over the fate of a black suspect, who they let free, making two libelous insinuations simultaneously: One, that Freedmen would allow criminals to roam the streets unchecked to commit future crimes on the basis of race, and two, that Blacks are simply not suited to serve as either judge or jury, the exclusive territory of the white man. Speaking of territory, Lynch shows a libidinous interest in a white woman - who also happens to be the love interest of Colonel Cameron, which establishes a love triangle to further justify white reaction in response - but this is minor compared to the introduction of the character of Gus, the black sexual predator. Unintentionally, the film serves to expose the true character of white racism, in that it depicts the ultimate motivating fear behind the hatred, at its core: The threat of sexual relations between black men and white women. This is never clearer than when Nation reveals Gus, a white actor in blackface, stalking the Colonel's younger sister. Emboldened by Lynch and the new law allowing intermarriage, Gus lurks in the shadows seedily, waiting for the prefect opportunity to pounce. Eventually, a chase scene on foot ensues to the edge of a cliff, from which the sister would prefer to jump to her death than submit to Gus' advances, an "honorable" choice. As a result of this and all the aforementioned "injustices" perpetuated against the white race, the honorable Colonel forms the Klu Klux Klan to restore the honor of the South and that of white womanhood, and the film effectively makes heroes out of villains. In conclusion, a technical masterpiece ... but a historical travesty. |
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