Birth Of A Nation (1915)

Two brothers, Phil and Ted Stoneman, visit their friends in Piedmont, South Carolina: the family Cameron. This friendship is affected by the Civil War, as the Stonemans and the Camerons must join up opposite armies. The consequences of the War in their lives are shown in connection to major historical events, like the development of the Civil War itself, Lincoln's assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan. Hilarity ensues for white people, not so much for black people.

Trivia: Some of the black characters are played by white actors with make-up, particularly those characters who were required to come in contact with a white actress. The person playing the Cameron's maid is not only clearly white, but is also obviously male. Elmo Lincoln, who plays "White-Arm Joe" in the film, also played eight additional bit parts. The film was made with only a single retake of a single scene, due to a continuity error involving Mae Marsh and the piece of cotton pinned to her shirt during the homecoming sequence. First film to run over 100 minutes. When it opened in New York City, ticket prices were $2.00 each, which was considered astronomical at the time. In today's currency, accounting for inflation, that would be about $17 - $20. One million people saw the film within a year after its release. Most Civil War scenes were based on actual photos of scenes they depict. However, postwar reconstruction scenes were not historically accurate, and many were in fact based on political cartoons rather than photographs (such as the legislature scenes).

Okay, I am going to talk about this film in two sections. First, the technical side of the film. This movie was ambitious, very ambitious, you could even consider it probably the first epic at 3 hours and 10 minutes long. Technically it was amazing, with a lot of the innovations that revolutionized movies, like irises, deep focus, jump cuts, and close-ups. It was also interesting to see some of the sets. The film claimed that they were reproductions of real places produced through pictures or other source materials. For example, Lincoln's Assassination was shot in a replica of Ford's Theater, and the South Carolina Senate Chambers were also shown. The music was incredible and used a full orchestra. This is why this movie is so influential...

Now here is why it is also so controversial. It is by far the most racist movie I have ever seen before in my life. Now I know that it was racist before I watched it, but my God, I just sat there with my jaw hanging down. All the "good guys" are white. All the "bad guys" are black except for the carpetbaggers who were despised by the "good guys". All the major black parts were given to white actors in black face. Amazing...And in the end, who comes charging in to the strains of Ride of the Valkyries (better known as the song from Apocalypse Now) like the U.S. Calvary to "save" the whites? Why it is none other then the Ku Klux Klan...as the heroes? The worst scene of this movie, racist-wise though, is the scene where the South Carolina Legislature is convening after the elections that transferred control to black legislators. The new black legislatures were depicted as little more then savages, one man took off his shoes and put his feet up on his desk, which caused another to complain to the chair about the stench, where by a rule was passed that legislators had to wear shoes. (oh, by the way, they guy that was complaining...had a turkey drumstick held in his hand that he was eating off of and waving around.) The mixture of this and the stated historical accuracy of the sets cause people to believe that these events really happened. The thing is that D.W.Griffith actually said he was surprised at the reaction the movie got.