Back at the beginning of this year, the Oscars were in the midst of the #OscarsSoWhite crisis. Word started leaking out about a film making the rounds at Sundance and other Festivals that should end talk for the next year. It was a movie written, directed and starring an African-American about the Nat Turner slave rebellion in 1831. Early word is that this film would be a shoo-in for Oscar nominations.
And then, the movie came out...
THE BIRTH OF A NATION is a very serious, slow and deliberate film that shows the evils of slavery from Nat Turner's point of view, pushing a good man over and over again until he reaches his boiling point and starts a rebellion against his white oppressors.
Unfortunately, slow, serious and deliberate is my code for boring. Star, director and writer Nate Parker portrays Turner as a man who is very willing to turn his cheek time after time after time. And we get to see Turner turn his cheek time after time after time until such a time where I got sick of seeing it and thought "get rebelling already".
I don't mean to make fun of the subject matter, which is a very serious black spot in our nation's history, but this movie doesn't give us anything new to view and besides Turner, no other character is fleshed out enough for us to care about. The direction and cinematography is competent and workman-like, but nothing special, so it is up to the words and the acting to draw this motion picture forward.
Sad to say, there just isn't enough here to warrant a recommendation.
If you want to see a good, serious movie dealing with the issue of slavery, rent 12 YEARS A SLAVE, the movie that this movie wanted to be, but just never was.
6 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
And then, the movie came out...
THE BIRTH OF A NATION is a very serious, slow and deliberate film that shows the evils of slavery from Nat Turner's point of view, pushing a good man over and over again until he reaches his boiling point and starts a rebellion against his white oppressors.
Unfortunately, slow, serious and deliberate is my code for boring. Star, director and writer Nate Parker portrays Turner as a man who is very willing to turn his cheek time after time after time. And we get to see Turner turn his cheek time after time after time until such a time where I got sick of seeing it and thought "get rebelling already".
I don't mean to make fun of the subject matter, which is a very serious black spot in our nation's history, but this movie doesn't give us anything new to view and besides Turner, no other character is fleshed out enough for us to care about. The direction and cinematography is competent and workman-like, but nothing special, so it is up to the words and the acting to draw this motion picture forward.
Sad to say, there just isn't enough here to warrant a recommendation.
If you want to see a good, serious movie dealing with the issue of slavery, rent 12 YEARS A SLAVE, the movie that this movie wanted to be, but just never was.
6 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)