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Nat Turner Birth Of A Nation

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Nat Turner Birth Of A Nation
Rifat Ralfi Salhon
Mr. Beckman
ENG - 0001
18 Oct 2016

The Birth of a Nation is a Powerful Film
I watched The Birth of a Nation prior to reading about the rape accusations towards Nate Parker in 1999. I believe this helped me create unbiased opinions, and helped me experience the movie to its full extent. First off, Parker’s passion as a first-time director shows blatantly in the movie. His efforts to fund the project, and his choice of cast reflect the vast thought process he had when planning to portray the story of Nat Turner. This, unfortunately, falls short. The movie is not a historical triumph. Although the movie fails to accurately portray the historical revolution, The Birth of a Nation is not only a cinematographic masterpiece but …show more content…
Nat Turner’s story is fairly inaccurate on many parts of the movie. However, I believe she fails to keep in mind that Parker’s intentions to create a long-lasting effect after watching the movie did not entirely depend on representing the historical revolution precisely. Parker in an interview with Anderson Cooper from Deadline says “There’s never been a film that was 100% historically accurate, That’s why they say ‘based on a true story’ and don’t say, ‘A true story’” (Deadline, 2016). With this compromise, he focuses the real subject of the movie to all the terrible injustices that black people have faced in America over the last four hundred years by focusing more on creating an enduring film. He achieves this reality with incredible …show more content…
The powerful religious references in the movie personally stroke me left and right. In the beginning, Nat willingly recites Bible verses that justify slavery in his preaches. The most personally astonishing was Peter 2:18 - “Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.” For the most part, Sam is a “good and considerate” master, and Nat is every inch the obedient slave. But over the years, he witnesses the violent actions of “those who are harsh” against fellow slaves, against his family, and eventually against himself; it is then that he comes to realize that he has interpreted the Bible all wrong. It is mostly for those actions, including but not limited to forced teeth-pulling, knee-breaking, whipping, and rape
Conclusion paragraph

Works Cited
Breen, By Patrick H. "‘Birth Of A Nation,’ The Historian’s Review." Deadline. Deadline, 07 Oct. 2016. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
Alexander, Leslie M. "'The Birth of a Nation' Is an Epic Fail." The Nation (2016): n. pag.
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