Parker's film depicts an important event in American history through the eyes of an amateur passing a test in Film Production 101.

It's very strange to watch painful verities staged in a way that diminishes their power under the guise of amplifying it. This is a film about deep-seated systems of oppression that feels tonally like a superhero origin myth.

One of The Birth of a Nation's biggest weaknesses is that the film's female characters are given little consideration in comparison to their male counterparts.

Today, directly echoing the racial tension and divides present in our country, The Birth of a Nation acquires the “timely” badge and earns the difficult processing time it requires of its audiences.