The Birth of a Nation (Official Thread)

[Dr. Narcisse]

we made it

had the chance to briefly meet him like 5+ years ago, we done came a long way from debating with ms smollett

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

 

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

Dude is hating hard

The racists and white supremacists truly can't help themselves when they see the truth. This guy loves 12 Years a Slave, a movie about a man with literally no visible strength or gall besides to accept what the white men give him, and hates this movie about a black man who was brave enough to die for his cause.

"It's too religious

he has a halo over his head all movie" spoken like a moron with no knowledge of Nat Turner. His whole reason for being was his faith. Devils like this writer want to see black men (and the world in general) as evil and demonistic.

12 Years A Slave was an average movie at best. The fact that white people automatically run to a movie about a perceived weak black male who never fought for anything as their benchmark for slave period films says a lot about them.

"Toughness of Mcqueen's film" what was tough about it?

 

[GunRanger]

lol i can tell you guys arent familiar with jeff wells


that being said, there does seem to be an element of rich white liberals going over the moon to show that they can appreciate something like this in light of the Oscar stuff.

 

[afterlife2009]

 

[wire28]

 

[Still Benefited]

So that's ALL Nat Turner was huh a crazed murderer. Surely he COULDNT have been a MAN who was driven towards violent revolution by the circumstances of overwhelming white supremacy, and certainly as a character the audiences wouldn't want to see how his mind set evolved from docile slave to a man who was willing to fight for the freedom of his people by any means necessary. Character development isn't needed whatsoever, no no. We need to skip STRAIGHT to murdering Cacs because that's how we like our action movies


This movie isn't an Action Movie, and honestly the murdering of Cacs isn't even the most important aspect of Nat Turner's life. It was the TRUTH of the savagery and horror of slavery and White Supremacy that DROVE Nat Turner to take up arms and become a freedom fighter. You've already got Cacs like @TheGodling bytching about "bu bu but...he KILLED innocent Lilly white children!" When he was 100% justified in doing so, but if you base the ENTIRE movie around that, then it strips Nat Turner of HIS humanity because it doesn't allow for exploration of his circumstances, those of our people, or his psyche.

Nat's cause was righteous, and every white oppressor he killed was one less legacy that would've existed to put their boots on our necks today. But Nat Turner wasn't simply a killer, he was a hero and just like Malcolm X and MLK his depiction deserves a complete character study



#tpc

I don't think I said all of that....but yes the killing is a very important part of Nats story obviously,and 15 minutes doesn't do it justice....If killing is only happening in the last 15 minutes we can guarantee its either watered down....OR it will be exactly what you are objecting too,it will be a bunch of dumb slaves being fed up and going on a killing spree.....When it was far more strategic in planning than that,and Nat was dedicated to that planning...This shyt should be like Rambo in execution....It took the Cubans 15 minutes to storm Scarface and kill em,yet the killing in this movie will last 15-30?Yes the violence and action is important.

And don't say "simply a killer" as if that was a bad thing,how much exploration of the circumstances do we need?We know he's being held as a slave....We don't need to see black people tortured for the whole movie to give his actions merit....He's a slave,they can start the rebellion 10 minutes in and he still has HUMANITY...because any human locked up as a slave would relate to wanting to do the same thing today....Not that I want it to start that soon in the movie,i would like them to explore the idea he went from teaching slaves to be docile to leading a rebellion....Far as if he was crazed or not that will be for the viewer to decide,from most accounts he didn't rebel because he decided slavery was wrong himself,it was because he thought god told him too to do it....So one could think he was crazed,but it really doesn't matter....One could also think that he did in fact decide slavery was wrong on his own,and "god" was in fact his own conscience telling him to act,maybe explore some people believing Nat was using the bible to control slaves making them rebel....I think leaving it open ended,and questioning all those things makes Nat more complex....I actually prefer not knowing since we don't truly know,not every heros true motivations need to be known,I prefer Nat as an enigma.

That killing better be at least 45 minutes to a hour though

 

[Alexander The Great]

been anticipating this movie for a while. was very happy when I 1st read about it and that it was nate parker who was making it. I had been thinking they we needed a film of Turner and Toussaint Louverture in the vain of brave heart, so hopefully this is it.

I'm conflicted, however with all of the "positive" reviews tho....usually when a "revolutionary" Black movie is praised so much...its watered down gibberish like Django that really makes the white man the savior.

also, while I would be happy for Nate if it got awards consideration, once again it would take a Black man being a slave or former slave to get nominated

 

[TheGodling]

This movie isn't an Action Movie, and honestly the murdering of Cacs isn't even the most important aspect of Nat Turner's life. It was the TRUTH of the savagery and horror of slavery and White Supremacy that DROVE Nat Turner to take up arms and become a freedom fighter. You've already got Cacs like @TheGodling bytching about "bu bu but...he KILLED innocent Lilly white children!" When he was 100% justified in doing so, but if you base the ENTIRE movie around that, then it strips Nat Turner of HIS humanity because it doesn't allow for exploration of his circumstances, those of our people, or his psyche.

Breh, I've explained from the beginning that my fear was of how they would handle it because it's very easy to miss the mark and have it become distasteful, and as I've acknowledged in my last post:

...a lot of reviews mention that it handles the moral ambiguity of the retaliatory violence very well, so I'll eat crow on that one.

So I had some fears about the handling of the not-so-pretty parts of Turner's legacy, and those fears were apparently unfounded. So again, I eat crow and I congratulate Parker for pulling it off, because let's be honest, did anyone expect the movie to get as embraced as it has? It really is kinda crazy.

Oh yeah, this movie's gonna be big come next year's awards season. Fox Searchlight always buys itself into the best picture race and the timing couldn't be better with the current controversy surrounding the white Oscars. Might be the perfect storm.

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[Roman Brady]

White ppl really love slave movies, just hope this flick is pro black and not some 2 hour love letter about racial healing

 

[Ziggiy]

I don't think I said all of that....but yes the killing is a very important part of Nats story obviously,and 15 minutes doesn't do it justice....If killing is only happening in the last 15 minutes we can guarantee its either watered down....OR it will be exactly what you are objecting too,it will be a bunch of dumb slaves being fed up and going on a killing spree.....When it was far more strategic in planning than that,and Nat was dedicated to that planning...This shyt should be like Rambo in execution....It took the Cubans 15 minutes to storm Scarface and kill em,yet the killing in this movie will last 15-30?Yes the violence and action is important.

And don't say "simply a killer" as if that was a bad thing,how much exploration of the circumstances do we need?We know he's being held as a slave....We don't need to see black people tortured for the whole movie to give his actions merit....He's a slave,they can start the rebellion 10 minutes in and he still has HUMANITY...because any human locked up as a slave would relate to wanting to do the same thing today....Not that I want it to start that soon in the movie,i would like them to explore the idea he went from teaching slaves to be docile to leading a rebellion....Far as if he was crazed or not that will be for the viewer to decide,from most accounts he didn't rebel because he decided slavery was wrong himself,it was because he thought god told him too to do it....So one could think he was crazed,but it really doesn't matter....One could also think that he did in fact decide slavery was wrong on his own,and "god" was in fact his own conscience telling him to act,maybe explore some people believing Nat was using the bible to control slaves making them rebel....I think leaving it open ended,and questioning all those things makes Nat more complex....I actually prefer not knowing since we don't truly know,not every heros true motivations need to be known,I prefer Nat as an enigma.

That killing better be at least 45 minutes to a hour though

Ok I see your point of view now, I think however, you do a disservice to the film itself if you don't show Nat's internal and external struggles leading UP to the rebellion. And I don't agree that this should framed as an action film, with the rebellion being a focal point of the movie itself.

If anyone has seen the movie Sankofa it has a similar vibe, the main difference is that point of view is from that of a female slave. The movie begins with an undercurrent of the coming rebellion, but it's not the HEART of the movie. The heart of the movie is what drove the characters to the awakening of their self worth and the fact that Freedom is something to be taken, through violent means if necessary.

 

[AkaDemiK]

Black excellence

 

[loyola llothta]

I like 12 years of slave. I haven't seen well put slave film like that


Religion, c00ns, and black people who think they're too good and the real essence of cac

 

[Jax]

HYPE