"History Written With :Lightning"

Rating: 10/10 (9 November 2010)

When Woodrow Wilson was shown The Birth Of A Nation at a special White House screening, the very first I might add for a motion picture, he said that the film was "history written with lightning". And Wilson, being southern born and bred despite being President of Princeton and Governor of New Jersey, was merely reflecting what had become the historical interpretation of that time by many.
Though someone like Claude G. Bowers for example would never have glorified the Ku Klux Klan as David Wark Griffith did, his histories also that of C. Vann Woodward became accepted interpretations. The Klan was merely the most extreme response of a proud, but defeated people being brought to shame and degradation. Remember the original source for The Birth Of A Nation was the Thomas Dixon novel, The Clansman.
This generation of film fans will recognize the framework of the Birth Of A Naton from the epic mini-series North and South. Like the more recent epic, The Birth Of A Nation is concerned with two families the northern Stonemans and the southern Camerons. As war clouds loom the Stonemans are visiting the Camerons on their plantation in South Carolina.
There would be barely any controversy over The Birth Of A Nation had it ended with the Civil War closing. The battles scenes that D.W. Griffith filmed were the best ever up to that time. His use of the photographs of Matthew Brady from the time to create the illusion of watching a Civil War newsreel was striking. The scenes of Lillian Gish and Henry B. Walthall are tender and romantic as the representatives of the Stoneman and Cameron clans. And the sight of Henry B. Walthall sticking the standard of the Stars and Bars in the mouth of the Union cannon will still inspire.
Head of the Stoneman clan is Ralph Lewis who is the 'Master of Congress' on the order of Thaddeus Stevens. Stevens did have a black mistress in real life as does Lewis. But when his mixed breed Lieutenant Governor whom he has gotten elected in South Carolina asks for the hand of Lillian Gish who he's been crushing out on, well let's say Lewis passes a Guess Who's Coming To Dinner moment.
Lewis and Joseph Henabery who plays Abraham Lincoln disagree on policy whenever the Civil War concludes which was certainly the case with Lincoln and Stevens. When Lincoln is assassinated which is witnessed by Walthall and Gish, Lewis's character assumes more real power than the unelected president over Reconstruction. That point of view is seen from the later film Tennessee Johnson with Van Heflin as Johnson and Lionel Barrymore as Stevens. That film also takes the same position as Birth Of A Nation.
The matter of interracial sex was a titillating and at the time repellent factor given the mores of the times. Gish with George Siegmann as the Lieutenant Governor was a strict taboo. It should be remembered at the time that Birth Of A Nation was out in first release, Jack Johnson the black heavyweight champion who had three of four wives who were white, was hip deep in the middle of his legal troubles and don't think Birth Of A Nation wasn't used to fan some flames against him.
What really set audiences off was the innocent Mae Marsh younger sister of Walthall pursued to her death by the lascivious Walter Long playing a newly freed slave. The not so implied message her was that these people were taking the notion of freedom way too far. Marsh's death and Long's 'trial' and execution set in motion for the triumph of white supremacy, the natural order of things in the minds of Dixon and Griffith and even the current President of the United States.
Yet as repulsive as the message is, Griffith gave us some compelling characters whom we never lose interest in throughout the more than three hour long film. D.W. Griffith set out to give the audience the biggest show the cinema had ever exhibited and he certainly did so. Griffith also made great use of music during the film, like John Ford later did in his movies he used period pieces and old songs from Europe to great affect.
No matter what we think of the message The Birth Of A Nation has its place in the history of cinema. It was an unparalleled achievement in its time and the stories of the Stoneman and Cameron families still hold our interest today. In a sense Woodrow Wilson was right because for all the pioneering techniques it displayed and for all the controversy surrounding its message, The Birth Of A Nation remains history written with lightning.