By Emilio Frenk
Director: Nate Parker
Cast: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Penelope Ann Miller, Jackie Earle Haley, Mark Boone Junior, Aja Naomi King and Roger Guenver Smith.
Rating: Excellent.
Nate Parker makes his debut behind the camera. Besides directing he acted, wroted and produced “The Birth of a Nation” and I was very impressed with Parker’s directorial skills and the movie delivers.
Based on real events, the movie centers on Nat Turner (Nate Parker) a preacher who becames a slave. He works for his master Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer) who takes Tuner with him to preach the word of God.
Everything will change for Turner when he decides to baptize a man without his master’s consent. This leads to a punishment that consists in torture.
Now Turner is tired of seeing how the slaves have been treated and decides to lead a rebelion of slaves against their masters in order to set them free.
The thing that I liked the most of “The Birth of a Nation” was that Nate Parkerdecided to make a very ambitious project which is rarely seen by actors who make their directorial debut since it´s also a daring one. Even so the movie works at all levels.
Parker’s directing is sharp and the writing plays a huge part in the film as well since the characters are written so much detail and you get to understand the world of the characters of every single one and the approach here works at every level.
Other thing that it’s admirable is that “The Birth of a Nation” is an original screenplay and everything involved tons of research which in my opinion made it even more fascinating and explains why the movie took eight years in the making.
The movie won the Jury the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s “Sundance Film Festival” for Nate Parker, making it one of the most commented movies.
Despite the controversy the movie has generated it’s such a delight seeing a movie like this since it doesn’t lead to boredom and the performances of the movie are true.
One element that the movie failed though was the use of flashbacks that for moments didn’t make too much sense but other than that in terms of screenplay, directing and acting works.
The cinematography and editing is also one of the things that I really loved and they were key for the movie and it reminds me of movies like Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” and Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave”, still this is more darker than the movie I just mentioned.
I have to mention the movie is really violent and it’s hard to watch. Please be prepared and open before you watch this movie and don’t let your emotions interfere at all levels.
This movie not only marks a fantastic debut for Nate Parker as a director, but I put it as a serious contender in next year’s Academy Awards and I would not be surprised if Parker scores a Best Actor Nomination and a Best Director as well.
“The Birth of a Nation” is one of the year’s best films. I give it a huge recommendation and it’s worth seeing.