The Birth of a Nation Dvd

The Birth of a Nation is a 2016 American period drama film written and directed by Nate Parker in his directorial debut. It is based on the story of Nat Turner, the enslaved man who led a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831. The film stars Parker as Turner, with Armie Hammer, Mark Boone Junior, Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis, Aja Naomi King, Dwight Henry, Jackie Earle Haley, Esther Scott, Penelope Ann Miller, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Gabrielle Union in supporting roles. Parker also petitioned financiers to invest in the film, ultimately getting an $8.5 million production budget, and started filming in May 2015 in Georgia.

The film premiered in competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2016. Fox Searchlight Pictures bought worldwide rights to the film in a $17.5 million deal, at the time the largest deal at the film festival. At the end of the festival, the film won the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and was highly praised for its directing, acting, soundtrack, and cinematography. The film was theatrically released in the United States on October 7, 2016 by Fox Searchlight Pictures and grossed $16 million.

Because The Birth of a Nation attracted increased attention due to possible Oscar nominations, there was significant press coverage of a 1999 alleged rape that Parker and co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin were accused of having committed, and the fact that the accuser died by suicide in 2012.

Plot

In 1809, on a farm in Southampton County, Virginia, Nat Turner is a pre-teen slave boy. There is not enough food for all children and Nat’s father Isaac notices that Nat is starving, so one night he slips out to steal some food. On the road, Isaac is caught by a posse led by Raymond Cobb. When Cobb tries to execute him, Isaac turns the tables, kills one member of the posse and flees. He then returns home, tells his family what happened and says that he has to leave the family immediately, but not without speaking to Nat once more, insisting that Nat is “a child of God” and has a purpose. When Cobb arrives and questions Isaac’s family about his whereabouts, nobody says anything and Benjamin Turner, the owner of the farm, intervenes before Cobb turns violent.

When Elizabeth Turner, Benjamin’s wife, notices that Nat has basic reading skills, she starts to teach him reading, hoping that he can be helpful in the household with his knowledge. The lessons center on the Bible. Elizabeth even goes so far as to have Nat read scripture during church gatherings. But shortly before Benjamin dies, presumably of tuberculosis, he decides that Nat will not continue his education but will instead work as a farmhand.

Now an adult, Nat is still picking cotton, but he also preaches and reads scripture for his fellow slaves on the farm. Samuel Turner, Benjamin’s son, has become the head of the farm. During a slave auction, Nat is immediately smitten by one of the female slaves for sale, Cherry. He convinces Samuel to buy her as a wedding gift for Catherine Turner, Samuel’s sister. Nat and Cherry fall in love, marry, and conceive a daughter.

Since the economic situation in the South is bad, many slaveowners have problems feeding their slaves and fear revolts. Reverend Walthall makes Samuel Turner an offer: several farm owners will pay good money if Samuel will travel to their farms with Nat and have Nat preach to the slaves to pacify them and convince them that the Bible requests them to endure their situations. Samuel, himself in financial trouble, reluctantly agrees. During their visits, Nat and Samuel witness emaciated and desperate slaves and, in some locations, horrifying treatment of the slaves by their owners.

Several additional incidents occur which infuriate Nat and make him more and more desperate:

Cherry is horribly beaten up and presumably raped by a group of white men, again led by Raymond Cobb. When Nat asks her who did it, she does not tell him because she fears his retaliation would lead to him being killed.
One night, Samuel hosts a party for guests whom he hopes could help improve his financial situation. One of the guests requests to rape one of the female slaves and Samuel acquiesces to the request, scarring her and her husband.
One day, when Samuel is not home, a white man who has been barred from all white churches in the county for unspecified crimes asks Nat to baptize him. Even though Nat knows that this act could lead to horrible consequences for him, he feels that it is his duty as a preacher and he performs the baptism, supported by Elizabeth Turner. For his insolence, he is whipped as a punishment.
When his grandmother dies, Nat decides that he will rise up against the slaveholders. He holds a secret night meeting with some trusted fellow slaves, among them one boy from another farm, and prepares them for the uprising. He also talks with Cherry, who still has not recovered from the beating, about the uprising and she gives him her blessing.

During the night, Nat and a fellow slave enter the house of their owners and kill Samuel and the manager. They then ask the other slaves of the farm to follow them, which most of them do. During the night, they take over several other farms and kill the slaveowners. During one of the takeovers, they notice that the boy has disappeared. A short time later, they are attacked by a group of people who had been alerted by the boy, and they have to retreat.

In the morning, they enter the town of Jerusalem to loot it for weapons. They are confronted by a group of white men, again led by Cobb, but they manage to defeat the group, with Nat personally stabbing Cobb to death. But when they enter the arsenal, they notice that it is empty. They are immediately ambushed by soldiers who kill every slave except for Nat, who flees.

When Nat manages to secretly meet Cherry once more, she tells him that innocent slaves have been murdered and more will be as long as Nat is on the run. So Nat turns himself in and is condemned to death. During the hanging, Nat notices the slave boy who betrayed the group in the crowd but Nat does not seem to harbor ill will towards him. The film ends with a fade of the boy’s crying face into the face of an adult soldier who presumably is the same boy, grown up and fighting for the Union Army in the American Civil War.

Cast

Nate Parker as Nat Turner
Armie Hammer as Samuel Turner
Mark Boone Junior as Rev. Walthall
Colman Domingo as Hark Turner
Aunjanue Ellis as Nancy Turner
Dwight Henry as Isaac Turner
Aja Naomi King as Cherry Turner
Esther Scott as Bridget Turner
Roger Guenveur Smith as Isaiah
Gabrielle Union as Esther
Penelope Ann Miller as Elizabeth Turner
Jackie Earle Haley as Raymond Cobb
Tony Espinosa as young Nat Turner
Jayson Warner Smith as Hank Fowler
Jason Stuart as Joseph Randall
Steve Coulter as General Childs