great work

Jerod 2022-03-23 09:02:47

A great work must have a great vision, a great realm, and a great skill. This film has these three greats.
Let’s talk about great vision and great realm first. Regarding the Civil War, we tend to tend to the mainstream view, one-sided, and make a simple either-or judgment. However, this film largely restores the truth of history, allowing people to see Inferiority of blacks (as before seeing the inferiority of whites).
As for the great realm, this film offers too many things, especially in terms of storytelling, comic handling, and emotional mobilization of the audience, all of which are remarkable.

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Extended Reading
  • Benedict 2022-03-15 09:01:05

    "There has never been a film that has such a striking contradiction between the revolutionary nature of the technique and the reactionary nature of the content."

  • Xzavier 2022-03-28 09:01:08

    Griffith systematically used the film language invented by predecessors in this film, making it a milestone in film history. On the other hand, the film is notorious for being overly racist. Griffey portrayed the Ku Klux Klan as righteous defenders of white rights, painted uprising black slaves as thugs and sexists, and saw the Civil War, not the Revolutionary War, as the birthmark of America.

The Birth of a Nation quotes

  • intertitle: [Sherman's march] While women and children weep, a great conqueror marches to the sea.

  • Col. Ben Cameron: [to Elsie, whose portrait he has been carrying] Though we had never met, I have carried you about with me for a long, long time.