1915
The birth of a nation
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Description
Description
The American Civil War and its aftermath, seen through the eyes of two families: the Stonemans from the North, the Camerons from the South. After the war, Ben Cameron organizes several like-minded Southerners into a secret vigilante group called the Ku Klux Klan. When his beloved younger sister Flora leaps to her death rather than surrender to the advances of renegade slave Gus, the Klan wages war on the new Northern-inspired government and ultimately restores what they see as ‘order’ to the South.
Controversial on its release, ‘The birth of a nation’ was a landmark of early cinema because of its technical achievements and use of a musical score. It is now known primarily for its racism and portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organisation, as heroic vigilantes fighting against the implementation of Reconstructionist policies.
