Nate Parker's Telling of Nat Turner's Story THE BIRTH of a NATION

The powerful, painful & must see film "The Birth of a Nation," is based on the true story of Nat Turner.  Turner, a slave in VA during the early 19th C led an uprising of slaves against their brutal & oppressive white "owners."  For who can own another human being?  The unqualified answer is no one. Neither can we deny the unconscionable, tyrannous treatment of African Americans considered property.  As property, white owners were free to abuse, torture & kill at whim.  This film mirror's American history at it's worst & most prescient relevance.  Nate Parker does a masterful job of acting, writing & directing a film that is incredibly affecting scrutiny of slavery.  The endless poignant & painful moments in the movie are harrowing and indelible.  For example: a young white girl "playing" with a young black slave by pulling her with a rope tied to her neck, the steel mouth harness & bashing in of teeth to force-feed slaves, witnessing men waiting for the wives to return from being forced concubines to white males, the debasing sale human beings.  The atrocious & cringe worthy beatings & lynchings are scorching.  Daily life was endless hardship.  The tender moments of love & family amongst the slaves heightens the atrocities we must endure.  Endure is being used lightly as bearing witness doesn't compare in any way to the suffering of slaves.  Nevertheless, this compelling historic film should be mandatory viewing.  We follow a young Nat Turner through his early years as a favored "house slave" taught to read.  He becomes a revered preacher & a courageous prophet who leads a bloody rebellion doomed to failure but not without the hope for  as a future with freedom.  Parker's film is 1st & foremost an accounting of our nation's abominable treatment of forced slavery.  It's also a commentary on the perversion of religious teachings capitalized for false & corrupt justifications for the domination of one race over human beings.  "To see a strong man broken down is a terrible thing."  There are many terrible truths deemed apprehensible that must be forever be maintained in our history.  Nate Parker's true story of Nat Turner's life is a piercing & unforgettable film "The Birth of a Nation," is the ongoing struggle for equality born out of the scourge of slavery.  "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever."  (T Jefferson)