this movie really can’t be done anymore in this day and age

Ian Fleming and Roald Dahl’s books are under fire. Reissues about Willy Wonka and James Bond get a red pen review. But the literary world is not alone. The first ever blockbuster and one of the most successful movies ever would never be made now. Justly. the crazy story of The birth of a nation (1915).

If it’s a good thing that the works of Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming have been adapted for modern readers, in the middle from the swamp of political correctness. But this movie, which used to be a blockbuster, would no longer be possible. Even the loose hands of Sean Connery and James Bond pale in comparison.

The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Of course, the selection of a questionable blockbuster is somewhat subjective. There are still many movies that today would be frowned upon. But there can be no doubt about this choice. Instead of applause, a deafening silence would fill movie theaters today. Although The birth of a nation a technical marvel and the first blockbuster.

The first blockbuster in history

A contradiction in terms. How can the same work (of art?) be both one of the most progressive and one of the most reprehensible films in history? A moving war movie and a racist pamphlet? Influential and late film critic Rogert Ebert written up the paradox perhaps best of all. “It’s a great movie that stands up for evil.”

The birth of a nation it was the first true blockbuster. For fourteen years, iconic director DW Griffith’s silent film held the highest-grossing record. And virtually all prints that have appeared in any medium since then follow the cinematographic techniques that first hit the movie screen.

The first close-up. Parallel chase scenes. interspersed between characters to increase the action and suspense. The first montage of a battle in which general shots, medium shots and close-ups follow one another in a stylized way. Now so standard it doesn’t even stand out, but incredibly revolutionary for its time. The audience was stunned with amazement. Applause everywhere. Therefore, the movie camera was only twenty years old.

Ku Klux Klan revival

However, it becomes birth of a nation at the same time responsible for the revival and glorification of one of the most violent racist groups in history. Surprised? The alternate title explains a lot. When the blockbuster first hit theaters, it was by the alias The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan.

Without wasting too many words on it; The film is about the American Civil War, the Reconstruction after and the assassination attempt on Abraham Lincoln. Klansmen have been portrayed as heroes saving the population from runaway freed slaves. Born a true racist in the South, DW Griffith naturally grew up with this inaccurate representation of events.

Despite this, by 1914 the Klan was nearly wiped out. But the excitement and controversy surrounding him at the time birth of a nation provided one in 1915 Renaissance. Only a few months after the premiere, the ‘modern’ version was founded: the so-called ‘Second Klan’. And the film is said to have served to recruit new members well into the 1970s.

Presidential Approval

We added one last mind-blowing scoop that would upset even a 1960s James Bond. birth of a nation it made it all the way to the White House, where an in-person screening of Woodrow Wilson was held. An oft-discussed and controversial statement by the then-president reads: “It’s like making history with lightning. My only regret is that it’s all so terribly true.