The Birth of a Nation

[octacom]

it sucks that this was the first movie made in america and it featured the klan

[MinamuTV]

This movie is crap. Wanna good movie director?

Kubrick. Hitchcock. Ford. Welles. Scorsese.

HUNDREDS of others besides Griffith.

[MinamuTV]

This film is disgusting.

[Slapplejacks]

these guys would have TORE YOUR ARSES TO SHREDS

[mykal615]

where was all the so called rebels and good ole boy americans when the talibans was running through america.THEY WAS UNDER A ROCK HIDING..I AINT SEEN NOT ONE KKK MEMBER OR ANY OTHER ORGANIZED GROUP DO NOTHING BOUT THAT.....BUT YOU LOVE THIS COUNTRY SO MUCH..YEA FROM THAT LITTLE HOLE YOU HIDING IN..BIG TALK ON COMPUTERS, BEHIND JAIL WALLS AND IN THE STICKS DONT MEAN NOTHING TO SOMEBODY WHO WILL BLOW YOU UP FOREAL.

[Slapplejacks]

@mykal615

i never saw no talibans running through america.

lot of nigger though, oh well let america sink we gonna rebuild and segregate bitch stop hatin on dat.

[JOHNNY18430]

mother fuckers racists

[rabadooda]

lol they're all wearing condoms on their heads

[mesha0932]

It's so funny how white people are quick to call Blacks rapist when HISTORY SHOWS how whites have been raping Black women since slavery. This movie is dstorted and shows true ignorance at its best. Black men don't desire white women at all, they love curvy women with real body parts not fake boobs and flat butts. Whites have killed off all of the Native Americans and enslaved and rapedalmost every native civilization WORLDWIDE ! Now you tell me who the real SAVAGE IS !!!

[chadeckish]

@mesha0932 This was made over a century ago, quit ya bitchin

[LordPullen]

White Power!

[lukebccb]

Remove the racist shit and this movie would still be pretty bad.

Watched this movie too many times to count as I own the DVD. Watch BofN a few times and it starts to deteriorate as a story. I use the term "banal" to describe it. Griffith's later work like "Intolerance" and "Broken Blossoms" are much better.

Wanna see a great movie from 1915 go find "The Cheat" by a young DeMille. It's not the usual craptacular of his later years. Most film snobs agree The Cheat was ahead of it's time.

[Deguello321]

Thousands of people denounced the film Birth of a Nation when that racist shit came out. Both Blacks and Whites denounced it. Griffith was a vile racist. Let's not excuse racism because a lot of idiots were that way--always remember that there were thousands of whites that opposed white supremacy, John Brown, John Adams, Col. Robert Shaw, Benjamin Lundy, the Quakers, and more. Stupid is always stupid no matter if it was during the time of Sparatus or when that ass hole Griffith did his dirt.

[quantumofhate]

THE DIRTY JEWS WE SPIT ON YOUES FUCK YOU DIRTY JEWS.

[Dezzieatwell]

What a bloody joke.

The crusades were 1000 years ago mate. sometimes u yanks will do anything in films to change history, or should i say, actually acquire some.

No i wont cos yanks are ok on average.

[skillet107]

really cool score

[sorejaxx]

KKK in my ass

[rionrace]

hahhahhah , why dont they shove the ''KKK'' just deeply up their ass . Screw the KKK . I Fucking hate Racism

[geoabe302]

Thanks for that intelligent observation..

[Tche5co]

Wow who gave this comment -2?....

[brandinposition]

Fascinating how someone could watch this and not see how wrong it is. The whole thing is nothing but a Klan recruitment film, glorifying the suppression of African Americans. Unbelievable! To think this was released across the country.

[insanej3]

@brandinposition

I agree with you, this film is racist and distorts reality. But this movie still is one of the most important movies of cinema history. Griffith invented the rules of narrative editing.

What scares me is that so many people still agree with it. It saddens me deeply to realise that many people are not capable of thinking by themself. Can we really say society advances if individuals don't?

[antag0nismo]

Is DW over-rated or what?!

What a red-neck shit!

Birth of a Turd from his ass!

[UofLCardFan08]

Like breeny1983 said, you all need to keep in mind that BoaN was made in 1915. People's views on black people, the KKK, etc. were quite different as they are today.

[calvariovm]

KKK!!!!!

[DoDaDaMnThAnG69]

KKK? lmao! bunch of pussies...looks like a bunch of pope wanabes or something.

[maharbamt]

Although historically intersting and a little comical, i find this movie incredibly morally wrong, hateful, racist, and truthfully incorrect. I don't care what the Klan think African Americans are equal to whites. And for those that are religious i feel safe saying that the Klan is of Satan himself

[PsychosisFire]

This is fucking disgusting

Fuck the KKK!

[breeny1983]

to anyone complaining of racism, please remember the social context of this films era, being made in 1915.Times and attitudes were very different. Moaning about the content is superflous, had DW Griffith have been alive today his attitudes, and thus his films would have been very different in style and content.

[martdelcat]

I am sure the Klan Loves you too! Absolutely the most racist film ever made...Its degrading to humans of all types...Sad that anyone would wrap themselves up in bed sheets with hoods, think they are heroes...

[MiracleKD18]

The Klan loves me? Dunno. I am just the leader of a "Hungarian Ku Klux Klan" movement...

[Fraziig]

You make me cry... not for the black people you hate just because the color of their skin but for you being such a sad human being. I hope sometime in life you will be able to get an experience of real life and not only from the incest-village youre living at.

[gregwi562]

That's right, Hungarian chicks are hot!

And they love black guys too!!

[gregwi562]

So why don't you marry them?!?

[Gamer21287]

Unfortunately, The absolute truth is that it is extremely offensive, degrading, and racist towards black ppl. All lies; white men consistently framed them in thousands of instances of lynchings for crimes they didn't commit. Funny at parts for entertainment but not much more than that though, I'd say (haha) The truth is opposite to all this malice and rage!!

[Gamer21287]

Ok, I just have to join in on this conversation about the movie . Woah, let me tell you, that despite overall racism has decreased dramatically in the USA just during the past 30 years. But it hasn't disappeared from our society even though our president-elect is a colored man! It will eventually perish altogether several generations in the future.

[statelybird3]

He's a BLACK man, not a "colored man". And,yeah, I saw this movie in it entirety-it was so ridiculous how they had white actors playing the main black characters---they looked silly--the scene where they show REAL black actors (the only scene) dancing around in a group. Just shows you that as talented as Griffith was, he didn't have the guts to deal with racism in a realistic way. If you want to see the real flip side to this film, check out WITHIN OUR GATES by Oscar Micheaux from 1919.

[krinkletube]

Wagner had not written this song when this film was released.

[deibid2003]

#44 In the AFI's list of greatest american films of all time. you can watch this and the other movies here:

blogger-films.blogspot. *com

[EminemsRevnge]

In GOP parlance...THOSE were the good ol' days--PRE-affirmative action!

[Huffdaddy1999]

racism was a term invented much later than this film. as americans we have no nobility by law. no one can rule by birthright. this film is about what knighthood would have been like and where it might have developed. the martyred south is the perfect place to develop this idea. ironically, this movie was not griffith's idea.

[eleventhdr]

it was never like that pity it could not have been but the clan never did naything like that maybe in some alternate dimension where the south won or something but not here that never happened and the civil war was one of the worse time ever in american history there was never anything glamous about that war no Clark Gable running around sorry friends it was just never like that it was horrible!

So!

[justinlpugh]

Not only is this movie tom foolery... it isn't even interesting...

[masterdra329333]

This totally reflects the racist attitude during the time period.

[89stec89]

ive got a media studies exam on this tomorrow :(

[lifesucksthenudie2]

my friend wanted to see this along time befor he had turn anarchist

[nayusin]

what? real black people act in this film? why???????

[EnigmaForceIV]

Very few black people acted in this film. Otherwise, it was usually white men painted black (This is known as blackfaced) It was supposed to protagonist the KKK, making them look good and the blacks bad.

[satrain18]

There were no black actors in this film

[fubarius2]

The real black people that have parts in this aren't the parts that most people would find offensive, they normally are filling roles with dancing, etc. where they weren't promoting what people viewed as racist about this movie

[ZeppelinFromtheLake]

give me a plus if you think this would've won the oscar for best picture if the award was around at the time. :-)

[bobbyjic]

whats that song called!? : )

[RushDevil]

Yes this is a racist movie. All the black people in there use to be played by white people with poor make-up and the purpose is horrible but, realise.

Unfortunatly, there is a lot of racism, now in US, and the country has been founded on it. All the slavery in the south, the extermination of the indians (french and indian war), the manifest destiny, the first democratic laws where a slaves owner have one more vote for three slaves, the mason-dixon line, the nat turner rebellion, (to follow)

[RushDevil]

big poster on streets announcing sale of valuable slaves by Hewlett & Bright, Lincoln use to be racist: "our sympathy with the slaves by emancipating the slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free." The Segregation, murder of Kenedy, Luther King, Malcolm X. The Sacco and Vanzetti case. The KKK, the NRF, the neo-nazis, the fight for the right to vote from the indians... (to follow)

[RushDevil]

Stop living in the blindness. USA is a racist country, it is really sad, but it is a fact.

Everything all intelligent people need to do, again and again, is sensibilisation. You hate what you're afraid of, and you're afraid of what you don't know.

And what I think is sad in the conjoncture is that USA needs a democratic president after the ravage of 8 years reign of right conservative fondamentalist president. But, the average white protestant/catholic american won't vote for a black man.

[fubarius2]

Obviously there's still racism in this country and in every other part of the world, and people who tell you there isn't aren't dumb enough to not realize it, they just don't want to admit it lol.

But if you do research on this film you will see that Griffith was not trying to promote racism with it (no matter how ridiculous that sounds).

[hajalabub]

Such a disgusting message but such a revolutionary film!

[laderose]

im mexican!

but we love the klan!

HAHAHAHA, WHITE POWER, JOJO!

OK , ill chill down!

[pseudolover]

This was acclaimed at the time. The Klan at this time had about 5 MILLION white men in it. I am half white/black If white people don't recognize what their ancestors did systematically to black people, than the problems of today will not be solved and black people will stay in the quagmire they are in. My mom (white) just recounted getting "10 little Nigger" candy up here in Pennsylvania. Search Jim Crow on here and watch the slideshow about Images of Jim Crow

[DeathscytheGOD]

the movie for its time is very revolutionary, being more than 20 mins long, having all the aspects of movies that we still utilize today, like action, sex themes, racial slurs, and political overtones. Also having a multi racial cast pre civil rights makes this movie extremely well developed.

[bradhorn14]

The peice being used here is the Ride of the Walkurie........hahahahahahaha­hahahahaha...(this peice is a satire of racism...Wagner depicts a fictional clan of people or animals that represent racism as a positive, but its all sarcasm....) WAY TO GO MORONS!

[Eurotrash4367]

If you want to understand what the film's director was trying to prevent from happening in this country watch the 6 oclock news.

[rebelstang]

Euro) You have a point!GOD BLESS, AMERICA!

With the way, rev.wrong & louis farican't,

thier gaypanthers & islamofascist Running amock,Something needs to be done!

They are doing a great disservice to Regular,Hard Working, Christian, Black Folk.

GOD BLESS,AMERICA,

ISRAEL,ALL ALLIED NATIONS & THE TROOPS!

[Eurotrash4367]

This film shows White men banning together to protect White women from Black rapists. This is completly unrealistic. White men would never unite to defend White women in 21st century America (it's politically incorrect).

[LordPullen]

@Eurotrash4367 Well, they should. Lots of savage niggers running out at night; I'd happily form a mob to protect our women again the beasts of the streets. They (black gangsters) ought to be sent back to Africa where they can be as wild as they want without cops to stop them. I wish that white people would step up and fight these filthy apes and prosecute these uncivilized gangs. Just a bunch of mindless monsters that rape, murder and steal; I don't see why the media makes them look cool.

[bads06]

The KKK are the Nazi's of the US... These KKK assholes and their ideologies are 2nd to worse than the SS... Come on?! Why would you fight 10% of the population?! ASSES

[l1lmex]

i'm confused is this video seposed to be funny or what???

i didn't get it at all

[gakr123]

The Klan saved the White South from an unjust U.S. military rule and from the crimes comitted by Yankee carpetbaggers and unruly and uneducated horde of negroes. I am proud to say that I am a Klansman as well as many of my ancestors. Read the true history of Reconstruction in the South and you will understand what the White and MOST of the negro population suffered during this time period. AKIA

[richy2303]

i'm currently objective to the topic, and am actually vastly interested in your comment, as i don't hear it a lot. i'd be very grateful if you'd recommend contemporary historians who adopts the "true history" you're referring to

[gakr123]

richy2303, Thanks for your unbias comment. There are several books out there that are a great reference tools to the Reconstruction Era Klan. One of the best ones is "The Invisible Empire: History of the Ku Klux Klan 1866-1871" by Stanley F. Horne. Most modern historians make the Klan out to be a terrible,unjust organization. If you look at the way the White Southern Populace was treated the only way to save the South and restore order was through the Klan. Let me know if I can be of help

[maxvolwassen]

No offence but how can you say the fate of Southern Whites was worse than Southern Blacks at the time?

To my view the Klan unnecessarily lengthened unfair treatment of blacks, still noticeable nowadays. Surely you do believe all men are created equal?

Seeing as I'm not a US resident my statements might not apply. I am open to an unbiased discussion.

[jackdude1118]

that's incredible, in a bad way. I have to write a 20-page paper on these bastards, and this movie kept coming up as that which helped them grow so quickly in the 1920's, and now that I watch it, i have no doubt that if you believed in the message that was put forth by klan minds you had to either be incredbly hateful, or incredibly stupid. I had no doubt before, but this backs me up like a solid brick wall

[thirdshift47]

Now that were passed all of this nonsense, White America, for all of their embrace of filmic nuance over politics, should feel more than ready to celebrate it's own modern cinematic treasure in Spike Lee.

[meatwad891]

Why do you find that "Ironic?"

[meatwad891]

Why do you find that "Ironic?"

[meatwad891]

Why do you find that "Ironic?"

[meatwad891]

Why do you find that "Ironic?"

[meatwad891]

Why do you find that "Ironic?"

[meatwad891]

Why do you find that "Ironic?"

[meatwad891]

Why do you find that "Ironic?"

[bookgirl25]

Astonishing filmmaking, but seriously, this is definitely not how the KKK was formed.

[twotoneshoes2]

Thanks for putting this clip onto YouTube. The more things change, the more they remain the same. This looks like any of the many race riots in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago or Britain or France for that matter. Nice to see a happy ending for a change :^)

[BleiburgVictory1945]

Death to Hollywood. G0d wills it!

[BleiburgVictory1945]

DW Griffith incessant pig fucker, devil worshipper and liar.

[bads06]

He's Dead anyways... MAY HE BURN IN HELL WITH HIS KLANSMEN AND FUTURE ASSHOLES THAT THINK RACES MAKES ALL HUMANS DIFFERENT !!!

[theministryoftruth]

"It is like writing history with Lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true."

- President Woodrow Wilson on seeing "The Birth of a Nation"

[mgk22]

President Woodrow Wilson came back and said he was misquoted or misheard saying he actually didnt like the film

[YoknapatawphaKid]

I had read that he liked the film, but regardless, Wilson was an active racist who did his best to segregate the government, alongside the numerous other despicable things he did as President.

[theministryoftruth]

"It is like writing history with Lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true."

-Woodrow Wilson's reaction to The Birth of a Nation

[theministryoftruth]

I always find it ironic when Americans criticize Germans for supporting the Nazi party.

[hulksmashdave]

Why do you find that "Ironic?"

[mans90]

Amen to that

[sonpanchan]

Godwin's law alert!

[niajhabenson7]

what exactly is this movie supposed to be about ?

[hulksmashdave]

We watched it in History of Motion Pictures when I was in college. I fell asleep continuously. It's about a family who gets involved with the Civil War and eventually the formation of the KKK. A very brief description but, trust me, it beats watching every painful hour of it.

[mgk22]

I loved this film and couldnt fall asleep at all watching it. I love silent films

[meatwad891]

you fail at life, and can find the nearest reset button on your closest firearm. i reccomend pointing the end to your head for maximum results.

[suzylux]

wtf were those black actors thinking by choosing to appear in this film?

[mgk22]

They were well paid I have to say, But to give you some info alot of those black actors werent actually black they were actually white boys in black make up lol this was a very common thing back then especially during Silent movies all black actors were almost always white men in black make-up (Hollywood couldnt get anymore racist then that)

[suzylux]

yeah, i know, it's called 'blackface'. that's even more insulting that they'd have white actors portray blacks that way. and the black actors, i don't care how much they were paid, they were stupid to be in this.

dw griffith is such a hack anyway. he was doing nothing that some european directors weren't already doing before him.

[hulksmashdave]

A "hack?" Have you seen "Intolerance?" Please tell me ONE European director who uses the cinematography used in that film. The HUGE Babylonian set with what amounts to be a crane shot closing in. I could be wrong, but I think he was a pioneer when it comes to certain aspects.

[CK2012]

An American Classic

[pilsener300]

HAHAHAHAH so fucking racist

[ConfusedIcky]

The name of this movie is "Birth of a Nation". "Intolerance" is the name of another D.W. Griffith movie that came out after this one.

Unless, of course, you mean "intolerance" in a different sense. But I think you got your D.W. Griffith movies mixed up.

[martwegman]

thanks for the info. for some reason, there has been a mix up during my upload: I mixed op birth and intolerance. Thanks again!

[satrain18]

There were no black actors in this film.