My gripe with the movie is that it didn't depict the rebellion well. It didn't have to be on bullshyt like Django... but guess what??? It was based off of a TRUE STORY where white people died, and we hardly see any of that in detail in this film. Just face it, Nate Parker held BACK. 60 white slave holding people whether they were family members or slave owners were killed during this rebellion and there was only 1 brutal death shown in this movie during that period. (the beheading)
In the same light, the movie shows nikkas teeth getting knocked out and fed through a funnel, we see a women get that pumpkin head treatment, we see nikkas with their heads blown off, we see nikkas literally set on fire, we see kids and women hanging from trees... what kind of harsh imagery do we have in this film depicted from the other side? A beheading scene that we barely see. My gripe is that we were sold on this being a different kind of slave movie. Showing Nat Turner's plight and struggle, and how he was a hero for doing what he did. But the images that I'm left with from this film aren't from what Nat did or his revenge/rebellion... it's the same images that I've already seen on film time and time again.
This shyt was such a letdown. Dudes really just propping it up cause a black man made it, and that's fine. I'm not going to run on social media and shyt on this film. I'm just shocked people are just blindly putting this film on a pedestal. It was really like your typical slave movie to the core.
Another gripe I had (which I mentioned in a post earlier, but people ignored it) was how the movie didn't show us what Nat was doing to survive during the time after the rebellion til when he was captured. The time period was from Aug - Oct, and the movie just shows us what's probably a fake scenario where he's talking to his wife in the bushes in the field. That would have been more interesting and unique to his story than the same ol same ol that we got here.
The one thing that the story excelled at was showing how Christianity was used to control slaves during that time. I respected that aspect. But much of everything else, just fell flat for me, or just felt rushed. Highly disappointed in this man, smh.
@Basaglia, @KBadd, & @NV-ME discussed the whole controversy on the FiyaStarter podcast last month for 20 minutes (Skip to the 2:01:40 mark):
