The Birth of a Nation 2016 movie review

This film is about the rebellion against the cruel and terrible acts of white people against their slaves, that are shown in the film.

Nat Turner - black priest, who was born and raised in slavery, all his life he belonged to the Turners. He grew up and received an education, allowing him to read and preach in a small Church in order to inspire the slaves to work. He had a childhood friend Sam, with whom he had an almost equal relationship, and when they grew up, Sam in most cases, protected and treated him like a friend, with respect. The movie shows how the slaves live in this world, especially those who belong to bad owners. The film is very philosophical, it shows how the Bible affects a person, how unfairly sometimes, that slaves must obey against their will. And it is unfair, when the preacher is pointed to read only excerpts from the Bible about the approximate obedience of slaves, and not other parts, in which slavery is condemned. This film is about the strength of faith of one person. 

I liked, that this movie didn't try to be 12 Years A Slave. It was realistic enough, but did not have that kind of emotional impact from the story. It is more like a smaller tale, people never heard about. This mutiny was bold and foolish, but inspired by a great idea. The history doesn't remember this, that is why this story must have been told and heard. Nate Parker did such a wonderful job in directing and acting. He was so believable, and his character was so masterfully done. I deeply enjoyed his work, which makes this movie feel significant. Armie Hammer was also very very good in this film. He portrayed his character on a master level, I felt and understood him, he appeared to be one of the best parts of the movie. I actually loved the relationship between Nat and Sam. It was remarkable and amazing, and I deeply felt emotional connection between two of them.

The film has a very smooth and consistent tone. I really liked the pace of the storytelling of the first two acts. But when the time came to the third, the movie could not adapt and adjust to a complete change and transformation into a murderous revenge streak. At the last forty minutes, the movie became ugly and bloody. Director's choice to go for such a drastic change seemed sudden and soon. Sometimes I did not feel emotional importance of some very significant events. I think, this movie lacked something in building emotional connections between some of the characters and the audience. Probably, there was not enough time to do that, the movie lasts only two hours, so the story felt short. And so I did not feel the drama fully at the end.

Overall, this movie works as a historical and relevant for the society, but it failed to reach the level of important and recognized. I liked the first hour very much, I thought it was masterfully done and told. The character of Nat touched me by his belief. The depth of the movie was very important and it worked. I heard the message and it was a very interesting point. It is an artistic movie, made for telling a relevant story.