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Friday, December 15, 2017

The Birth of a Nation (2016)

This is a very very painful movie that chronicles the story of Nat Turner, slave, preacher, husband, father, and eventually slave rebellion leader.  The bloody awful ending is almost a relief after the relentless grimness of slavery, even with a kind owner.  Worse with the worst of them, and when one begins out kind, it may turn when money gets tight, because the fact of the matter is that slaves were treated like property, not like people.  Property that you could beat and rape and starve and torture, all of which comes about.  It is just gruesome.  A true rendition of the past by all accounts.  What we see here is no different than what Frederick Douglass wrote about his experience as a slave and then a free man in almost the same time period.
The rebellion that Nat Turner led, which killed 60 slave owners over a 48 hour period until the military stepped in and killed them all, it entirely understandable, if not exactly comfortable or right.  The movie is not for the feint of heart, but well done and accurate.

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