There is a twofold irony to the title of the film "The Birth of a Nation." On the one hand, the film recalls the title of the D.W. Griffith silent film of the same name, based on the Thomas Dixon novel "The Clansman." On a deeper level, the title stresses the contradictions between the fledgling democracy of the new American republic and the abhorrent practice of slavery.

The film is successful in placing a human face on the story that is given a paragraph or two in most American history textbooks. In the film, we see unfolding the gruesome violence and daily humiliations of slaves in the Chesapeake in the early nineteenth century. The white slaveholders depicted in this film are some of the most repellent screen characters in recent memory.

Much credit must go to Nate Parker in his multiple capacities as writer, director, and actor. The location filming and, especially, the lighting design effectively recreated the historical period. The ensemble cast was also stellar.

Some viewers (and historians) might object to the film's one-dimensional religious motivation for the Turner revolt. Still, the film provided an unforgettable portrait of an important part of our history. This was a film that had to be made. And it would be difficult to improve upon Nate Parker's effort.

Nat Turner (Nate Parker) grew up a slave in Virginia. It was better than most slaves and he was taught to read the bible by Elizabeth Turner. His father ran away after killing a slave catcher. Raymond Cobb (Jackie Earle Haley) is one of those evil slave catchers. With fears of a slave revolt, Reverend Walthall suggests that the debt-ridden drunk Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer) hire out Nat's preaching to soothe other restless plantations. Nat talks Samuel into buying and saving Cherry-Ann. Nat witnesses and experiences countless injustices. When he dares to baptize a white man, he is whipped. Finally, he organizes a slave revolt.

This is competently made. It is sincere but it doesn't have that extra something to put it over the top. Nate Parker is a good actor but Nat Turner is a passive character for the first half of the movie. He could have made more with the religious aspect. That would be a different angle to get at this subject matter. Whatever it is, the movie needs a new spin to angle this shot.

This is a tear-jerking bio-pic of Nat Turner, a slave minister who lead an unsuccessful rebellion. The film starts with his anointing as a child and ends with Nina Simone singing "Strange Fruit". This is another installment of "man's inhumanity to man" series inspired by our history on this planet.

With a successful slave revolt in Haiti, slave owners feared the same in the US. Nate Parker gives us an excellent performance, although "12 Years a Slave" was a better film. The original film "Birth of a Nation" was the first film to be shown at the White House. It's Reconstruction message brought about protest and a resurgence of the KKK. This film is only connected in name only.

The whipping and killing scenes were brief and less graphic than what they could have been. We do get the idea that men were whipped and women were raped and beaten also.

Guide: Brief nudity (Aja Naomi King)