Nat Turner's Story Birthed Again

          I hadn’t heard the story of Nat Turner’s 1831 slave rebellion before I saw The Birth of a Nation. Nor I assume, have a lot of people. Which is one of the reasons this movie is so important.
          It’s also important because the title Birth of a Nation has up until now been associated with a 1915 silent film by D.W. Griffith that though significant for its ground-breaking filmmaking techniques, is extremely controversial for its glorification of white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. The hope is that this new film will both allow that title to lose these connotations as well as bring the story of Nat Turner more attention. Essentially this film is raising awareness.
          Nat (Nate Parker) is raised a slave on the Turner cotton plantation in Virginia where after learning to read the Bible, he becomes a preacher to the slave community. Through his popularity and impassioned preaching style he travels to other plantations where he witnesses the full extent of suffering the slaves experience, and eventually he uses his knowledge of scripture and other resources to mount a rebellion.
          Stories about the horrors of slavery have been done a few times now, most recently in the Academy Award winning 12 Years a Slave, which this film you can draw a lot of comparisons to. But The Birth of a Nation does enough in terms of its direction and focus to differentiate itself. Here we see a single slave’s whole life in bonds from childhood where his father (a nice Dwight Henry cameo) disappears, to his becoming a beacon among the Turner slaves. The story progresses at an admittedly slow pace, building to the moment late in the film when the stirrings of rebellion begin. But it manages to keep your attention until then through the interesting directorial, performance and musical choices.
          Parker’s performance is a definite highlight. He plays the role of Nat with a silent subtlety through a lot of the film. Outside of his sermons he doesn’t do a lot of talking, allowing his pained and restrained expressions to convey all the pent-up anger and sorrow. But when he does deliver speeches he lets that raw emotion out powerfully. Even if he is only preaching sanctioned passages on the importance of subservience to masters. It’s one of the best performances of the year for sure. The other characters though aren’t as interesting. There are good turns from Aja Naomi King as Nat’s love interest Cherry, Colman Domingo as his friend Hark and Roger Guenveur Smith as Isaiah, an Uncle Tom kind of butler for the Turners; but as is expected, all the white characters (with the exception Penelope Ann Miller’s Elizabeth) are cruel if not downright sadistic, and don’t have much personality apart from that, clearly just there to be hated by the audience. Though some like Armie Hammer and especially Jackie Earle Haley are giving it their all.
          Parker wrote, produced, and directed the movie as well as starred, so it’s clear The Birth of a Nation is a passion project of his. While some of his stylistic symbolism in a few cutaways is confusing and pretentious, the cinematography is often pretty good. He certainly has some decent skill behind the camera if he wasn’t in front of it too. Though the way he shoots the climax through to the end is good, with visceral action and marvellous roughness, it does bring to mind other similar films. Most noticeably Braveheart which in some ways I feel this film is intentionally trying to reflect.
          The musical choices are very fascinating too; the rousing score by Henry Jackman being accompanied by a mix of diegetic slave hymns and cultural beats, as well as non-diegetic modern songs to act as purveyors of mood. This helps give the film its appealing tone of feeling both historical and modern. And that in addition to the impact of the finale that shows in full detail why it’s important we remember Nat Turner and his uprising, makes the film so relevant. Especially given the postscript detailing the efforts to ensure he wouldn’t be remembered.
          The Birth of a Nation’s title may have originated as a means to usurp an early films’ arguably undeserved legacy, but it’s actually quite suitable. This was the first slave revolt to claim the lives of a substantial portion of white slave-owners and so the “birth” allegory is very appropriate. Ergo the film does depict the Birth of a Nation. It doesn’t pack near the wallop of 12 Years a Slave, its abstract artistic choices don’t work, and in some areas is certainly derivative of other similar stories, but it is a very well-made, exceedingly well acted, and important film to see.