The fiery cross of the Ku Klux Klan. Awards: 2 wins. Production: Gravitas
Feb 08,1915
Hollywood Movies | Drama | War | History
The Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan. The Birth of A Nation is a silent film from 1915 and the highest grossing silent film in film history. The film tells a romance story during the American civil war. D.W. Griffith invested heavily in its high production values, pioneering many new camera effects. The Birth of a Nation was strongly protested for its negative portrayal of newly freed slaves (mostly white actors in blackface), which went on to create and propagate negative images of blacks of the early 20th century in the United States. The film was used as a recruiting propaganda by the KKK until the 1940s.
| nudity | None. |
| violence | A reenactment of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Battle violence, but nothing overtly bloody. A girl, intimidated by a black man, runs from him and jumps off a cliff to her death. |
| profanity | Told from the view point of the Ku Klux Klan, the film contains racist themes and messages that may offend audiences. |
| frightening | Some moderately intense violence. Despite being a landmark classic in terms of the quality film-making, this film is often interpreted as blatantly racist for seemingly glorifying the Ku Klux Klan, and in reality was later used as a recruitment tool for the KKK. Most of the actors portraying African American characters are played by Caucasians in black-face makeup. The film is likely to offend modern general audiences, others may view it as an argument for racism as told from the opposing side. Suggested MPAA rating: PG-13 for battle violence and thematic elements. But some may argue that the racism alone would make it an R if released today. |
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