This ambitious film bears the title of D.W. Griffith's 1915 racist classic and begins with a quotation by Thomas Jefferson: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever." Nate Parker is the writer, producer, director, and star of The Birth of a Nation and the burden of one person carrying all that baggage drags the storyline, the dialogue, and the performances down. His intention is to have us see the hero as an African-American freedom fighter who commands our respect because he fights back against his white overlords and oppressors.
In 1809, the boy Nat Turner (Tony Espinosa) is confirmed to be a prophet in a midnight ritual in the woods. He witnesses the demonic presence of Evil Doers when his father (Dwight Henry) is wounded and must leave home after fleeing from slave patrollers. Next, the plantation owner's wife Elizabeth (Penelope Ann Miller) singles the boy out for special treatment when she learns he can read, but the only book she will let him read is the Bible. When Nat (Nate Parker) begins preaching, Sam (Armie Hammer), Elizabeth's brother, organizes a profitable deal with other slave owners by having Nat talk to their slaves about subservience and obedience to their white superiors. During the years in which he carries on this travesty, Nat sees the barbarity, cruelty, and violence of racism.
When the time is ripe, Nat realizes that he must lead an armed rebellion against slave owners and their thugs. He chooses the God of wrath over the God of love. He has been sickened by the suffering heaped upon his wife Cherry Ann (Aja Naomi King) and countless other slaves. He carries on his back lash marks and carries in his soul the desire for payback.
Birth of a Nation has none of the artistry or rich spiritual teachings of Selma and 12 Years a Slave and in the end, it is nothing more than a disappointing meditation on revenge.