UNDER-APPRECIATED MASTERPIECE OF EARLY CINEMA

Rating: Null/10 (15 December 1999)

This is truly America's first great film. Some would be critics are unable to overlook the film's bitterly racist overtones to consider what precedent the film set. This was the first time that a director had used film as an art form to enrage and offend. I do not enjoy hearing and seeing these racist sentiments, but how can you disregard a film based solely it's subject matter. The shots and angles were never before seen. DW Griffith had an amazing artistic vision, which was portrayed beautifully in this and other films to come, including Intolerance and Abraham Lincoln. It is a crucial piece of film history and a must see to truly understand the evolution of film as a social agitator and as an art form. DW Griffith was not out to entertain in this film, he was out to provoke thought and debate, and he succeeded perhaps more effectively than any other director before or since. Do not pass up the chance to take part in witnessing this birth of film as an artistic outlet, see the landmark Birth of a Nation.