Review: The Birth of a Nation

-
Rise up

Nat Turner (Nate Parker) is a slave owned by Samuel Turner. (Armie Hammer) Sam's mother taught Nat to read from the bible as a child and he's become a preacher to the other slaves. Word gets out about this, and Samuel is asked to loan Nat out to "encourage" other slaves. He's strapped for cash and has developed a drinking problem, so he agrees.  As Nat continues to witness the disgusting things done to himself and other slaves, he eventually leads an uprising. 
Since it's premiere at Sundance, The Birth of a Nation has had a lot to live up to. Premiering during the #OscarsSoWhite movement, many saw this as the answer to it. It got strong reviews right out of the gate and was deemed an Oscar contender. Then of course, you know everything that happened after wards. The reviews out of TIFF didn't mirror Sundance, and director/star/producer/writer Nate Parker's former rape trial came to light. The response out of TIFF made me think I'd wait until this hit DVD, but when offered a ticket to an early showing, I decided to go and hoped to see what the Sundance crowd did. 

 I'm torn.

 First off, it's not an issue to separate Parker's personal life from his work. I do it with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski, and plenty of actors who are probably grade A assholes in real life. But the thing is, if this film doesn't get it the Oscar glory the internet declared it would, that's what's they're going to blame, and I don't think it's 100% true. Direction wise, this film has a lot of issues.

 Parker took on too much, he should've let someone else take the directing reigns, because even the strong script, and the performances by Parker, Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis and Aja Naomi King couldn't save it from being one of the worst directed films I've seen lately. Every shot feels too precise. It doesn't flow naturally and Parker hits us over the head with so much symbolism I have to wonder why he wasn't playing it more straight forward? Did he think he had to make an art house flick to make this story stand apart? I felt like he was just trying too hard and because of that and the score, which ultimately didn't fit the film, made this feel melodramatic. 

 And that's unfortunate, because Nat Turner's story is interesting, Nate Parker's screenplay IS interesting but it suffers tremendously from its execution.

 Recommended: Yes

 Grade: C+

 Memorable Quote: "I'm ready." - Nat Turner (Nate Parker)

Comments

  1. Sonia CercaOctober 2, 2016 at 6:54 AM

    Even though it sounds pretty flawed, the story is so interesting, I think I'm still going to watch the film. I don't know how long I'll have to wait for its release here in Italy though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 2, 2016 at 10:20 AM

      That's part of my dilemma. People should know Nat Turner and what he did, but God this film has problems.

      Delete
  2. Matthew St.ClairOctober 2, 2016 at 11:00 AM

    Your consensus is basically what I've been hearing. The film is well-meaning and has good acting but it is incredibly flawed and has amateurish directing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 2, 2016 at 10:04 PM

      I sometimes feel bad about saying "amateur" because it's not like I could do better, but that's what it was. He needed guidance.

      Delete
  3. DellOctober 2, 2016 at 11:12 AM

    Very interesting. I'm glad you clarified that you are separating his personal situation from the film. You shouldn't have to do that, but that's going to be the question that dogs every review of this. I will still see it. I'm just not sure how son. Great job, Britt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 2, 2016 at 10:03 PM

      Thank you! It's impossible not to point that out. There's so much drama surrounding the film and that's going to take the brunt of the blame if no Oscars get thrown its way.

      Delete
  4. BirgitOctober 2, 2016 at 12:23 PM

    I had to look up Nate Perry to see what he was/is accused of and it didn't surprise me that it was rape.its a shame that he doesn't seem too remorseful but he could claim guilt for saying sorry. One does have to look at the film without the personal baggage of the people who made it. I thought, at first, they were remaking the 1915 film and am glad they are not. I do want to see it and will sot will be interesting to see if I agree with what you have said

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 2, 2016 at 10:02 PM

      I like that he used the same title as that 1915 film, because that looks like absolute trash. Yeah, that case is troubling to say the last.

      Delete
  5. Candice FrederickOctober 2, 2016 at 8:16 PM

    yiiiikes. I was really hoping his directorial debut would be strong. I already know he's an excellent actor

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 2, 2016 at 10:01 PM

      He's definitely an excellent actor, but he shouldn't direct. It's bad.

      Delete
  6. Courtney YoungOctober 4, 2016 at 3:46 PM

    "Parker took on too much." Nailed it 100% right there. We're basically in agreement on this one, except I got called a racist for not liking it ;) haha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 5, 2016 at 6:56 AM

      lol right? I did steal your idea of talking about the director's personal life in my review though. Since you know, you were the first...

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

Please join me in my Favorite Movie Titles Blogathon!

-
Image
Earlier this week I made a post where I ran through the letters of the alphabet with my favorite movie titles. There were a few people that suggested I turn it into a blogathon, and I've never done that before. So here goes nothing! Since this is my first attempt at a blogathon, it's all pretty simple, and it's hopefully a quick post that everyone can join in. Rules: 1) Going through the alphabet, list your favorite movie title beginning with each letter.  2) You don't have to necessarily  like the movie to use it's title.  3) Use the banner at the top of this post in yours. 4) Please have submissions in by Friday, May 30th*. (But I'll be honest, if you send them to me after that date, I'll still add them to my post.) You can either leave a link to your post in the comments here or tweet it to me, ( @ramblingfilm )  Thanks everyone! :)  *I had to move the date back a week due to Photobucket threatening me with bandwidth issues. But...
Read more