The Birth of a Nation

Writer-director-actor Nate Parker's powerful Civil War drama centering on the 1831 slave rebellion led by Nat Turner conspicuously carries the same title as D.W. Griffith's 1915 controversial classic silent film about the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Set on cotton plantations in Southampton County, VA, the film has the child Nat being recognized by an African tribal shaman as a potential prophet/leader, and he's encouraged to read the Bible by his master's wife (Penelope Ann Miller). Years later, Nat (Parker) becomes a Baptist preacher. Amidst rumors of insurrection, Nat is rented out by his alcoholic owner (Armie Hammer), travelling to neighboring plantations to spread a gospel of subservience and peace. But that's before traumatic acts of brutal violence--including the rape of his wife--turn Nat into a crusader who leads a ferocious uprising that claims the lives of 60 white families and results in the retaliatory slaughter of 200 blacks. Full of heavy-handed symbolism, The Birth of a Nation is an edgy and effective film, but it's shadowed by an incident in the director's past: Parker was accused of raping a fellow student at Penn State in 1999; he was acquitted in 2001, and the woman later committed suicide in 2012. Taking top honors at Sundance, The Birth of a Nation sold for $17.5 million (the biggest price in the festival's history), but news stories about the filmmaker have possibly hurt its chances for major Oscar recognition. Recommended. (S. Granger)