Nate Parker stars in the Nat Turner biopic film, Birth of a Nation. While most true story adaptations include a few embellishments, don’t go into this expecting anything remotely accurate. After having done some research, very little of what is presented in this film can be found as historical fact. What Parker has created is a sloppy, amateurish, slavery pain-porn film, rife with Christianity overkill. It’s a mockumentary of Nat Turner’s legacy and tries to trick its audience into thinking this is an actual part of history.
From birth, Nat Turner (Nate Parker) has been blessed by God with the power to free the slaves. The slavemasters, overseers, his family, and other slaves knew that Nat was special. He was taught how to read the bible and ordered to give sermons at a young age. He was treated “well” as a house slave until it was decided that he belonged in the field picking cotton. As an adult, Nat became a well-known preacher on his plantation. Word got out about this, and Nat and his master Sam Turner (Armie Hammer), agree to take Nat on a plantation tour to preach to other slaves about obedience to their masters. This was done in an effort to curb any talk of revolution or uprising among local slaves. However, seeing the deplorable conditions other slaves were in, stirred something within Nat. It isn’t until personal tragedy strikes his family that he decides a full slave revolt is needed to free all of his people from bondage.
The story of Nat Turner and his pre-civil war slave revolt seem to be missing from the history books. Many do not recall hearing about Nat Turner in school. This is a story that needs to be told but told the right way. If researched, it’s easy to find that this revolt was not a success. The point is Turner and others simply grew tired of the mistreatment and wanted to strike back at the oppressors. With the many flaws this film has, the setting (the antebellum south), and costumes are gorgeous. Parker really put a lot of time and effort into making the film look as authentic as possible. In addition, there are some powerful shots he manages to achieve while acting as the film star, director, producer, and co-writer. Unfortunately, this is where the positives end. Telling a coherent, believable, and original story, would have added weight to the film experience.
This is a major problem with the story and the movie. Nate Parker is wearing too many hats. Something was bound to suffer with him in charge of everything. He was able to get funding and distribution for the film from Fox Searchlight, but the writing takes a hit. He produced the film and handled the logistics, but his directorial flaws are ever present. Parker has not directed a film before. Some scenes are not in focus, other scenes lack the depth of field, and then the color is off in others. It’s just messy. His performance also suffers. He isn’t charismatic and is so stiff it seems he is reading his lines from a teleprompter. There is a great supporting cast here but they aren’t given as much attention. Although, Armie Hammer’s as Sam Turner gives the performance of his career.
There is no balance in Birth of a Nation. At least 90 minutes of the120-minutee film is filled with scenes of harsh abuse of slaves, Nat Turner preaching, crying, praying, more abuse, women being disrespect, and a cool 12-minutes of the actual slave revolt. Which is what the audience was there to see. The slave revolt. Parker wants us to know that slavery was horrible, but the audience should knows this. There is no satisfaction during the anti-climatic battle because there isn’t enough time to absorb it. Then there is a copious amount of faith-based references about relying on God to save everyone. In every scene, the audience is beaten to death with Christian references. Sure, you can’t talk about slavery without referring to Christianity, but the film isolates its audience by aiming to cater to a religious crowd. In fact, Parker paints Nat Turner as a Christ-like figure, equipped with 12 disciplines, including his own Judas type betrayal, and a death that mirrors Christ crucifixion.
Birth of a Nation does not contain the cinematic quality of 12 Years A Slave, the powerful storytelling of Roots, or the war aspect of a film like Glory. It is your standard, the run-of-the-mill film that reiterates what we already know about slavery and offers nothing new. Parker would have turned over a better movie had he stuck to one thing and put all his energy there instead of going too many places with this story. Nat Turner has a rich history so it may be better to read books on Nat Turner and his slave revolt. Watching Birth of a Nation is no way to learn about such an important an historical figure in African-American history.