Turn off the emotions - turn on the brain

Rating: Null/10 (8 May 2002)

After reading the many comments of those who were outraged by the movie, I have to admit that I was chuckling and bemused. When I watched this movie, I did not watch it with the same intentions or motivations that one watching the movie in 1915 would have had. I did not watch the movie for the entertainment value, but rather, to try to partially understand the mind of D.W. Griffith and many others in the South fifty years after the end of the Civil War.
Imagine if we discovered a "autobiography" manuscript written by a slaveowner three thousand years ago, detailing his life day by day. Would be be angry that he could be so inhuman, and would we, therefore, burn the manuscript? Or would we put our emotions aside and realize that we possess an incredibly rare and valuable window into life three thousand years ago.
Birth of a Nation is eighty seven years old. No one who helped make this movie is still alive. You may choose to waste your energies and become outraged by its content. However, I would suggest that you use the movie as an insight into our nation's history. This movie will teach you little about the South between 1860 and 1880, but if you open your mind, it will teach you a great deal about the U.S. in 1915.