Reviewing the highest-grossing film of every year: 1915 – The Birth of a Nation

When I had the intention of writing a review of the highest-grossing films of the year, I thought that it would be a fun exercise to look at films from over 100 years ago and also a pretty lengthy feature. It all seemed grand, and then I followed through with the idea and looked at what the first film would be. It seems box office takings were not counted until 1915, and a rather unfortunate film is the first to be reviewed. Shall we?

Let’s not ignore the obvious…

For all intents and purposes, this review will not be like all of the others I will do in this series; in fact, it will be rather short. I had thought about just completely ignoring it and starting in 1916, and maybe at some point, I will remove this post from existence, and further glances at this series will say it started in 1916. It is an awkward one for me to write as I imagine it is for anyone to write about nowadays, or by all accounts even then, considering the uproar.

I felt that it is appropriate also not to ignore the context and story of the film, just because it is so controversial. By ignoring it, I feel I am making it more visible, so let’s start with the obvious on this one. The stories and beliefs (however much he tried to correct his mistake with this film in subsequent films) that DW Griffith had are ever-present, in fact, it is hard to imagine another film that so plainly wears the creator’s thoughts on its sleeve as much as The Birth of a Nation.

As a result, it is disastrous, from a filmmaking standpoint even 105 years ago it made no sense. Here is an example. The character of Gus is one of the film’s many major missteps. It could have just focused on the Civil War and post-Civil War events instead of going where it went, but that wouldn’t be faithful to The Clansman… Anyway, for some reason, in the film, the blacked (Bloody hell) character Gus chases the Southerner Flora Cameron through the woods in the most offensive way possible for a character to act.

I will never know why Griffith decided that Gus would run and hunch over like an ape. Making him act this way and then (for a supposed captain) not noticing that it was wiser to leave Flora alone, but to chase her to the edge of a cliff and allow her to fall is exhaustingly dumb.

Are there positives?

A lot of people (far too many, in my opinion) will state that while the story is worthy of being called racist and an atrocity to society, the actual film techniques are worthy of high praise. (There is a reason The Birth of a Nation has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.) It was said to be the first time that close-ups, massive war scenes etc were used on such a scope (spoiler it wasn’t), it is the founding father of cinema as we know it many says. With that said, it really doesn’t matter as the positives of the technical side cannot override the context of the film and the intentions that came from it.

I know a number of years ago, a writer for The New Yorker tried to defend the film for those merits, and many of the positive reviewers also tried to go down this route, but you simply cannot and should not; it found a line and flew over it. For all its brilliance from a technical standpoint, (though it needs to be reminded and hammered home Griffith did not invent the wheel, he basically stole all the spokes to to make his version.

Should it be banned?

Truthfully, I think it shouldn’t. There has always been that push to ban the film and to make it forgotten for the rest of the time. But it shouldn’t be banned; it should be used as a prime example of extremes and how easy it was for filmmakers to have their voices (for better or worse) out there. To simply remove it for the content brings a mythical air to it. It should be an educational tool at this point, something to show how far we have hopefully come in cinema and as a society. It will always evoke emotion, and the only hope is that over time, it will be known as the film that we have all since passed by and nothing more.

Is it still an important film?

The Birth of a Nation is an important film. It just isn’t for the right reasons, and that is okay. To know what is right, we need to see what is wrong, and jeez, is there so much wrong here…

It is frustrating as someone who loves to write about the film to have to discuss this film. I had thought I would never have to, but as mentioned, this feature came to my head, and it would have felt like too much censorship to just straight up ignore the fact that the film exists. I want to be clear with the audience that read these by talking about its issues and how, actually, when I carried out a little bit of research on the film, I found so many positive reviews or articles simply because of the technical aspect of the film, which was disconcerting.

Surely, the writers would not use this as an excuse to wax lyrical about The Birth of a Nation, but they have, and they did. They wanted to show their love and appreciation of Griffith, who, whether we like it or not, helped change cinema forever. None of it does because of the massive shadow covering the film. It should be noted that Griffith never fully apologised for The Birth of a Nation when the reactions and protests began. Instead, he worked on Intolerance, which depending on who you ask was made to appease the masses or a way to give an honest apology via film to the world.

Rating: 0/5

Reviewing the highest-grossing film of the year (1916): 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Reviewing the highest-grossing film of the year (1917): A Romance of the Redwoods

Reviewing the highest-grossing film of the year (1918): Mickey

Highest Grossing Films of each year: 1921 – The Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse ★★★

Highest-grossing Film of the Year: 1922 – Robin Hood ★★★

Highest grossing film of each year: The Covered Wagon (1923) ★★★

Highest Grossing Film of the year: 1924 – The Sea Hawk – ★★★★

Highest Grossing Film of the Year: 1925 – The Big Parade

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