New 'Birth of a Nation' makes short work of famous predecessor

Daring actor Nate Parker, debuting as a director, certainly has guts. He gave his hard-hitting slavery film The Birth of a Nation the same title as the pioneering classic by American film pioneer D.W. Griffith. Not as an homage, but precisely to give his famous predecessor a good lecture. Great marketing too, of course.

At its premiere at the Sundance Festival in January, Parker, who plays the lead role himself, received high praise with awards from audience and jury. The Birth of a Nation, a historical drama about a slave revolt in 1831, is now a much-discussed film in America. Big question with that: will this finally earn another Oscar nomination for a black actor?

The Dutch premiere is scheduled for 23 February, but those who can't wait that long can already go to previews at Amsterdam's Da Bounce Urban Film Festival and the Leiden International Film Festival.

Racist masterpiece

The original The Birth of a Nation, about the US Civil War and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, made a smashing impression in 1915. At a time when film was still a kind of carnival entertainment, Griffith came up with the first real blockbuster. A riveting, three-hour epic full of drama, realistic action scenes and technical innovations. But besides admiration, there was almost immediately criticism and controversy because of its racist tenor. Several states banned the film for that reason.

Black preacher

Parkers The Birth of a Nation could now with some goodwill be called the prequel, a drama that seeks to show the gritty reality behind Griffith's stereotypes. A prelude to the Civil War. The battalion of black soldiers in the final scene gives a clear hint in that direction. Nate Parker, who struggled to raise the budget for his film, plays the historical figure Nat Turner himself. A literate black slave who, as a preacher, initially hopes to bring comfort to his fellow slaves with the word of God. White plantation owners even deploy him to quell brewing rebellion among the black work force. The result is counterproductive. Turner is shown so many horrors that, using that same Bible as inspiration, he starts a bloody rebellion.

Regarding the latter, Parker does not spare the viewer. You would almost think he wants to hammer the message in by force. Defensible to a certain extent, but that initial jubilant reception will also have to do with the politically correct content. And with the zeitgeist.

The reviews that followed were often more reserved in tone, which is understandable. We see an ambitious and, at the best of times, impressive debut, but also a film that again leans towards a different kind of stereotypes and is rather short on dramatic development.

African-American stories

Slavery has long been a rather underexposed film subject. In that respect The Birth of a Nation a creditable addition to some recent titles, but lacks the brutality of Tarantino's Django Unchained Whether the persuasiveness of character drawing and period portrayal of 12 Years a Slave.

That the time is ripe for stories from the African-American realm no doubt also has to do with current events. In America, police brutality has caused an upsurge in racial tensions, but the urgent film that responds to this hot off the press is The Birth of a Nation anyway. Then we rather think of Spike Lee's Chi-Raq.

White Hollywood

Another related issue loomed around the Oscar ceremony again. For the second consecutive year, black actors were missing from the nominations, making it painfully clear that Hollywood is still a white bastion. Sure, there are black stars who are successful, like Will Smith, Dwayne Johnson or Ice Cube, but those are the exceptions. Hollywood has promised improvement, so we wait in anticipation. A nomination for Parker's portrayal of Nat Turner should be a possibility.

To be seen at two festivals

In anticipation of this, the Da Bounce Urban Film Festival (4 - 6 November) at Amsterdam's Westergasfabriek grounds introduces us to the 'urban/black' cinema that does exist in the shadow of Hollywood. A varied selection of light and serious work, drama, comedy, documentaries, complemented by discussions and Q&As on themes such as racism and diversity. The Birth of a Nation is the opening film on Friday 4 November.

Two days later, on Sunday 6 November, it will be the closing film of the Leiden International Film Festival.

Supplement 5-11-2016: The less appropriate use of the term 'white' has been adjusted in the text. Also, someone pointed out to me that this new The Birth of a Nation has been criticised, among other things, for its representation of black women. See this article On how the film marginalises women. (LB)