Worth watching at least once

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2006)

D.W. Griffith seems to get all the credit for this film. When in actuality the unsung hero of "The Birth of a Nation" is his cinematographer G.W. Bitzer. While the plot and story may seem to go astray to some people towards the end when the racism and bigotry is full blown, there is a technical element of the film that makes it landmark. The use of irises and color in certain scenes to emphasis symbolic feuds or relationships had never been similarly done before. (ie: the fighting of the puppies and kitten to represent the North and South) If you have problems with English subtitles in current movies though, I would NOT recommend this film. But once you get past the silent factor, the film itself is definitely worth seeing. People may condemn me for promoting such a racist and KKK supporting film, but I am only promoting the film because of its huge impact on our culture in the 20th century. It was difficult for me to finish this film because of the horrible "propaganda" style brainwashing that was being attempted. It seemed like Griffith was trying to convince us all that this is reality, when in fact it is far from reality. It is the inner workings of a racist man. But it captured what society was like during the civil war era -- people believing slaves were happy in their situations, people believing blacks were incapable of acting properly in social scenes, people believing the KKK was a group of heroic men, etc. All of these blatantly WRONG notions were what engulfed our nation then, and when racism became taboo and seen as wrong in the early 20th century this film is what reverted us right back to those pathetic beliefs of ignorance. The resurgence of the KKK after this film was devastating to the progression of this country and any work of art and cinema that can actually alter history, I believe, is worth watching at least once.