by Rod Machen
The Birth of a Nation is not simply a historical reenactment, or even a biopic on the leader of Nat Turner’s Rebellion. It is rather the story of a group of people stuck in a maddening and tragic situation and the man who leads them in a bloody revolt against those responsible for their pain.
The opening frame is a exercise in immersion. Like all slave narratives, showing the humanity that still exists in such a deplorable situation is the low-hanging fruit, and of course, it is there because we’re dealing with human beings, on all sides. The Turner family seems to be a group of comparably decent slave owners. (Especially compared to what comes later, though this is still the lowest of compliments.) The slaves work, love, and worship with little Nat becoming the focus of the narrative early on. He’s “special,” such that even the local shaman proclaims it.
The matriarch of the house (Penelope Ann Miller) takes an interest in Nat (played by director Nate Parker) early on and brings him into the fold for special instruction. Herein lies a bushel basket of doubled-edged swords. He’ll be taught to read, but only the bible, not any of those other leather-bound classics, as they would surely be too difficult for the negro mind to comprehend in her view. Yet this holiest of the books–the one she calls the greatest book ever written–is to be his text. It hard to keep reason and racism straight in situations like these.
This new development also means that Nat’s quality of life will get better, what with living in the big house. The other side of this coin is that Nat will no longer be living with his own family, and none of them have any choice in the matter. Privilege in this world hurts even the recipient of an ostensibly kind gesture.
Soon, little Nat is put behind the pulpit to recite passages and wow the other whites with his literacy and oratorical skill. This sets him on a path, that of the slave preacher, soon relegated to only delivering sermons to his own kind, but it’s a gift he uses throughout his life.
The meat of the story comes when Nat’s owner Samuel (Armie Hammer) becomes convinced to rent out his on-premises preacher for use in quelling dissent on other plantations. In desperate need of money, he and Nat travel around the county, in what turns into a roving display of horrors. Each group of slaves is treated more horribly than the last, and viewers are subject to literally unthinkable treatment of these people by their owners. Nat returns to his world a shaken man.
The other complicating factor in Nat’s life is love. He has fallen for a young lady, Cherry (Aja Naomi King), that he helps to rescue and eventually marry. She lives in another house, that of his owner’s sister, but they make the arrangement work, finding some measure of happiness, including the birth of a child.
It is when Cherry’s path intersects with the local enforcer (Jackie Earle Haley) that things change fundamentally for Nat. She is assaulted and abused in horrific fashion, and it breaks Nat’s peaceful will. Thus begins the final act in which Nat’s anger is translated into action in the form a bloody rebellion of slaves against their masters.
Nate Parker is fantastic in this role, harnessing both quiet intensity and white-hot rage. Recent troubles aside, award nominations should flow his direction over the next few months. To a tee, the cast is excellent and turns what could be a cliché-ridden affair into something with real heart.
The only weakness in the film is the two-dimensional portrayal of some of white aggressors. To be sure, their acts are evil (especially Haley’s character), but by being shown as simple, sadistic monsters, we lose the beautiful complexity that strives to be felt throughout the rest of the movie.
The Birth of a Nation accomplishes what it sets out to do: turn the title on its head from the racist, early film that shares its name, and illuminate a fascinating piece of history, when for an all-too-brief moment in time, the tables were turned in the centuries-long struggle between displaced Africans and the people who oppressed them. Humanity rules the day over inhumanity, even as the latter’s legacy continues to pain this nation.