This film was released 9th December 2016, and is no longer screening.

★★★★ Independent

Actor-director Nate Parker’s The Birth Of A Nation is a portrait of Nat Turner, an enslaved African American who, in 1831, led a short-lived slave rebellion in Virginia. Given a Bible, young Nat becomes deeply religious, and in adulthood, preaches to his fellow slaves. When Nat is loaned out to other slave-owners who want him to use religion to quell dissent, what Nat sees leads him to believe that violent uprising is necessary. With echoes of 12 Years A Slave (2013), this is a powerful, vivid, and timely depiction of a shameful practice.

Given a Bible, young Nat becomes deeply religious, and in adulthood, preaches to his fellow slaves. When Nat is loaned out to other slave-owners who want him to use religion to quell dissent, what Nat sees leads him to believe that violent uprising is necessary.

With echoes of 12 Years A Slave (2013), this is a powerful, vivid, and timely depiction of a shameful practice. (Notes by Kevin Coyne.)

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