The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Yes, this silent film is 100 years old. It is the oldest movie that I have seen to date. It a 3hour long movie which drew a lot of flak from those who disagreed with some of the historical facts depicted here, especially as Ku Klux Klan is shown in a favourable light. It shows the most important single event that affected what would eventually transform into the biggest nation in the world one day - the Civil War and the aftermath.
It is an intense saga of brethren of a nation who are divided by their need to use slaves but united by their Aryan roots.
The first half of the movie dwells into the nation engulfed in Civil War. Two families are torn apart as collateral damage of the war. Brothers are fighting each other and are held as war criminals. The real drama starts after Abraham Lincoln is assassinated when his post-war plans are hijacked by carpetbaggers and profiteers. This is the time of Reconstruction after the war.
The black slaves, who all these while have quite contended with their simple servant life were suddenly told that they were free after the Civil War - all men were equal and free. They need not slave in the fields but can enjoy life instead, dancing and boozing.
The majority of the South, the blacks, are happy with such an arrangement. They are coerced to vote in their own people to Congress. Slowly the slaves become the masters. They demand equal rights, like walking shoulder to shoulder with their masters. They create a mockery of the legislative system with their inexperience. A black militia group also comes to fore to mete out justice. Even the jury is predominantly made up of former slaves. It appears like the slaves are on a rampage to avenge years of oppression.
Many injustices happen. The whites feel intimidated. It appears that the slaves do not know how to handle their new found freedom.
So all legal avenues fail to provide justice, what do people do? They recoil into religion and race!
In rolls Ku Klux Klan as a reactionary group to combat the menace of the growing black militia. In the turn of events, the Southern whites also found their Northern whites helping to protect against the blacks through their common Aryan roots!
And everything is put back in place. The whites become the ruling force in the next election while the KKK ensures that the blacks do not vote!
Now you understand why this movie kicked up a lot of dirt after its release. Just like in India after the release of Aamir Khan's PK, people in major town in the USA rioted in 1915. The demonstrators were mainly coloured as the flick glorified KKK as saviours of the South and portrayed blacks as uncultured, uncouth and highly sexed scoundrels. Anyway, as the censor board members were mainly white, nothing really happened.
My take-home message: Men are violent creatures. They regularly suppress their fellow kind for power and control. The 1% per cent will always control the masses and that is the status quo. The shift of power to the masses cannot sustain. In order to ensure law and order, there must be leaders and followers. The race has not reached a level where it can function unaided. Just my thought...
It is an intense saga of brethren of a nation who are divided by their need to use slaves but united by their Aryan roots.
The first half of the movie dwells into the nation engulfed in Civil War. Two families are torn apart as collateral damage of the war. Brothers are fighting each other and are held as war criminals. The real drama starts after Abraham Lincoln is assassinated when his post-war plans are hijacked by carpetbaggers and profiteers. This is the time of Reconstruction after the war.The black slaves, who all these while have quite contended with their simple servant life were suddenly told that they were free after the Civil War - all men were equal and free. They need not slave in the fields but can enjoy life instead, dancing and boozing.
The majority of the South, the blacks, are happy with such an arrangement. They are coerced to vote in their own people to Congress. Slowly the slaves become the masters. They demand equal rights, like walking shoulder to shoulder with their masters. They create a mockery of the legislative system with their inexperience. A black militia group also comes to fore to mete out justice. Even the jury is predominantly made up of former slaves. It appears like the slaves are on a rampage to avenge years of oppression.
Many injustices happen. The whites feel intimidated. It appears that the slaves do not know how to handle their new found freedom.So all legal avenues fail to provide justice, what do people do? They recoil into religion and race!
In rolls Ku Klux Klan as a reactionary group to combat the menace of the growing black militia. In the turn of events, the Southern whites also found their Northern whites helping to protect against the blacks through their common Aryan roots!
And everything is put back in place. The whites become the ruling force in the next election while the KKK ensures that the blacks do not vote!
Now you understand why this movie kicked up a lot of dirt after its release. Just like in India after the release of Aamir Khan's PK, people in major town in the USA rioted in 1915. The demonstrators were mainly coloured as the flick glorified KKK as saviours of the South and portrayed blacks as uncultured, uncouth and highly sexed scoundrels. Anyway, as the censor board members were mainly white, nothing really happened.
My take-home message: Men are violent creatures. They regularly suppress their fellow kind for power and control. The 1% per cent will always control the masses and that is the status quo. The shift of power to the masses cannot sustain. In order to ensure law and order, there must be leaders and followers. The race has not reached a level where it can function unaided. Just my thought...
