Birth of A Nation: A Movie I invite Everyone to Watch; An Experience About the Price of Freedom
Are you ready for an experience that will forever change your perspective on how the United States of America, as a nation, was really born? Are you ready to change your perspective on the role played by Black slaves in liberating America from the shackles of human hatred and cruelty against each other, not as submissive beings but as leaders? Then get ready for Birth of a Nation.
Birth of a Nation, a film directed by Nate Parker, is a biographical film about Nat Turner, the Black slave who led a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831 against the White supremacy. The rebellion resulted in the deaths of at least fifty white and 200 black people.
Photo: Nat Turner
Nat Turner, as a slave boy, was taught to read so that he can study the Bible and be a preacher to fellow slaves. When teaching him, the slave masters had the goal of using his preachings in reinforcing that slavery was blessed by God. When Turner's master takes him across the country on a preaching tour to profit from his preaching, Turner begins to see the scope of slavery and decides to become a different leader who would lead the liberation of his brothers and sisters from the white supremacy.
Nate Parker, a graduate of Penn State University, wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the movie as Nat Turner. Nate Parker wrote the screenplay and sought investors to fund the film. He was able to secure a budget of US $10 million. The movie was filmed in Georgia in May 2015.
The main cast includes Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Earle Haley, Esther Scott, Gabrielle Union, and Jackie Penelope Ann Miller.
The film premiered in competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2016. Fox Searchlight Pictures bought worldwide rights to the film in a $17.5 million deal, the largest deal at the film festival to date. It is expected to be in major movie theaters across the World. Critics have compared Birth of a Nation to the 2013 Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave.
Felicien Kanyamibwa,PhD.
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