Incendiary, problematic and arresting, Nate Parker’s The
Birth of a Nation is the hot-button film of the moment, an unflinching look at
the vagaries of slavery and its echoes through the generations. Focusing on a slave rebellion of 1831 led by
the radical slave Nat Turner, the movie employs a slow-burn approach as we see
the protagonist go from a devoted man of God to radical, revolutionary as the
atrocities that surround him finally take their toll. This is the sort of material that appeals to
the gut, counting on an emotional response from the audience. Parker, who served as the film’s director,
star, writer and co-producer, succeeds in fostering that, though Turner
ultimately comes off as a contradictory symbol.
Beginning in 1809 in Southhampton, Georgia, we see young Nat
come to the attention of the matriarch of the plantation Elizabeth (a never
better Penelope Ann Miller), who recognizes an uncommon intelligence in the
young boy. She teaches him to read,
using the Bible as their text, and soon Nat (Parker) is delivering sermons to
his fellow slaves. As he grows older,
this self-styled preacher is hired out by former childhood playmate and current
owner Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer) to other plantation owners to deliver
sermons based on Holy Scripture that implores them to remain subservient to
their masters. However, after witnessing
a litany of abuse and mistreatment, the tone and content of Nat’s message
changes, becoming more militant in intent.
Parker assaults the viewer with images of degradation and
violence throughout. A dead slave,
tossed aside like a piece of trash on the side of a country road; slaves
stripped bare at auction; another having his teeth knocked out with a chisel
and then force-fed to end his hunger strike; Turner’s scarred and stitched back
after enduring a whipping; the face of his battered wife (Aja Naomi King), the
victim of a gang rape; a young white girl at play, leading a young black girl
around with a noose about her neck.
The cumulative effect of these images has the same result on
viewers as it does on Nat, stoking in them a sense of rage that can only be
slaked vicariously by our surrogate on screen.
The film’s strongest moments occur in its second act as we see Nat
transform into an instrument of God’s wrath, feeling fully justified in
inciting a rebellion against those that have oppressed him and his kind.
There’s certainly no room for argument where justification
and action are concerned. However, once
the rebellion begins – an event that lasted only 48 hours and resulted in 60
slave owners and members of their families killed – the image of Nat becomes a
contradictory and troubling one. While
speaking of violence in the abstract, he is seen as a righteous warrior; but
once the attacks begin, his clothes become blood-soaked and his eyes go dead,
the figure becomes one of forced contradictions. Left with no recourse, the violence Nat and
his followers inflict ultimately undoes their cause, casting them in a light
beyond redemption no matter the justification.
Still and all, there’s no denying that The Birth of a
Nation is an affecting piece of work, one that gets under the viewer’s skin
and stays there for a good long while.
Parker errs towards the end with touches that are far too obvious to be
taken seriously or at face value. Yet,
there’s no denying he knows how to manipulate his audience and has a flare for
the dramatic built on broad actions as well as subtle ones. This, as well as the way “Nation” in many
ways parallels today’s continued issues of race will keep it as a source of
conversation for some time to come.
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 5, 2016.
