See it at least once in your life (The Birth Of A Nation (DVD))

Name: sharktrager

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Product:	The Birth Of A Nation (DVD)
Date:	09/12/00 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's directed by D.W. Griffith

Disadvantages: A racist storyline

THE BIRTH OF A NATION is a must-see movie for anyone interested in the history of Hollywood motion pictures. It was directed in 1915 by D.W. Griffith, based on the novel THE CLANSMAN by Thomas F. Dixon Jr.

The movie tells the story of the American Civil War and its aftermath, and this piece of history is put across in a vary racist manner, making heroes out of the Ku Klux Klan, who execute(ed) blacks simply because of their skin colour.

The film has the reputation of being the first movie to use examples of film grammar which are still used by Hollywood today, including close-ups and cross-cutting narrative, but if one looks at earlier movies, including ones made by Griffith and other directors, you can locate examples of these techniques even earlier than this film.

What is the case, though, is that at a running time of 2 ¾ hours, this was the longest film ever made at the time of its release, and it became something of an event – perhaps one of the most highly hyped film ever, before the onset of cross-marketing films (where you see images from films plastered everywhere from lunch boxes to Big Mac meals).

To our, perhaps more sophisticated, mindsets, a silent movie of almost 3 hours length is not the easiest prospect and not the most pleasant movie to sit through, and the subject matter doesn’t help. BUT, if you consider yourself a film fan or a film historian in any way then this is one film that you must see at least once.

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