THE BIRTH OF A NATION - Review By Greg Klymkiw - TIFF 2016 - Biopic pillories Nat Turner

Nat Turner at the pillory,
though it's director/star Nate Parker
who deserves to be pilloried.

The Birth of a Nation (2016)
Dir. Nate Parker
Starring: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley,
Penelope Ann Miller, Gabrielle Union, Esther Scott

Review By Greg Klymkiw

Nate Parker shoehorns two rapes into his abysmal big-screen biopic of the legendary African American freedom fighter Nat Turner. That one of them involves the character of Turner's wife, who appears (by all historical accounts) to have never been raped, manages to offer up a mighty rank fish-smell wafting from Parker's fetid onscreen world.

That the other rape in the film involves a character who doesn't have a single line of dialogue, seems more than enough to charge the picture with bearing a strong streak of sexism, if not downright misogyny. Both rapes are indicative of a myriad of poor storytelling choices on Nate Parker's part in this horrid, poorly written and incompetently directed attempt to render a stirring picture about one of America's greatest heroes.

Nate Parker in diapers. Fetishize THAT!

The Birth of a Nation is so awful, it's disheartening that it exists as the first major feature drama to tell such an important story about the history of African-Americans. Nat Turner (played in the film by director Parker) led a major slave uprising in 1831 Virginia. The rebellion resulted in the deaths of about 60 white people who "benefitted" from being slavers. The aftermath saw many of Turner's followers captured and killed. Turner himself eventually suffered the same fate. In spite of a flurry of official measures by Whitey to place further restraints upon African-Americans, the rebellion is an important event which provided hope to slaves and contributed to the anti-slavery sentiments amongst America's liberal class.

Parker's film places considerable emphasis upon Turner's literacy and abilities to preach the words of God. That his financially-strapped owner (Armie Hammer) sells his slave's services to other plantation owners (who hope to quell sentiments of rebellion), is a story element that certainly offers the potential of a very interesting relationship - a kind of bro-mance miscegenation-style, but Parker is such an incompetent film storyteller, it remains firmly lodged up the smelly butthole of potentiality.

The film also spends inordinately saccharine amounts of time on Turner's relationship with his wife, rooted (so to speak) in the director's considerable exertions to bolster his delusional belief in the yummy sex appeal he seems to think he has. This is about as offensive as the aforementioned rapey stuff, but might actually be more bile-inducing.

And so, the movie plods along, rife with cliches and historical inaccuracies and directed with all the aplomb of a made-for-TV movie. Once the "action" begins, Parker's meagre directorial abilities extend to an inability to offer up coverage commensurate with the sort of flair that could have, at the very least, kept an audience awake and sufficiently charged to have something resembling an emotional response to the pallid proceedings.

"Who stole my diapers?"

Given that Parker has attempted to "reclaim" the film's title from D.W. Griffith's racist, but undeniably groundbreaking 1915 feature, he might have attempted to study the film's astonishing mise-en-scene for a few pointers on how to make a movie.

Aside from his film's overall failure to deliver any goods at all, The Birth of a Nation is plagued with two especially egregious elements. First of all, the entire dichotomy between the Old and New Testaments (the former preaching revenge, the latter extolling the virtues of turning the other cheek) is never adequately addressed within the context of character, theme and drama. Secondly, a running dream-motif exploring Turner's belief in his destiny as a "warrior" is handled with all the subtlety of a jackhammer.

Parker even blows these dream sequences in which he appears as Turner, adorned in what appear to be the swaddling attire of cloth diapers, inspiring a whack of unintentional guffaws amongst audiences desperate for something (ANYTHING!!!). But here's the rub (sans tug). By not even bothering to mine the fetishistic possibilities inherent in the film's star (himself, 'natch), dolled up in this sexy attire, Turner seems to add considerable insult to injury. Then again, given the "primitive" context of the dream sequences, it seems unlikely Nat Turner would have been clothed at all. Perhaps Parker decided he didn't quite have the "equipment" to let it all hang out.

On both counts, ultimately, a real filmmaker might have been needed.




Of course we must not ignore the film's rapey "qualities", which seem somewhat curious given that Parker, in real life, was acquitted of rape several years earlier and that his accuser eventually committed suicide. That said, I don't believe it's ever fair to condemn a film based upon anything its maker may or may not have done in his private life. The movie must live or die by its quality as art. It is here, however, that The Birth of a Nation dies a miserable death, simply and solely by virtue of the fact that it's a dreadful picture.

The Film Corner Rating: * (One-Star)

The Birth of a Nation is a Special Presentation at TIFF 2016. It will be released theatrically by Fox-Searchlight.

THE DROP (TIFF 2014 - WORLD PREMIERE - TIFF SPECIAL PRESENTATION) - Review By Greg Klymkiw

The Drop (2014)
Dir. Michaël R. Roskam
Scr. Dennis Lehane
Starring: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini, Matthias Schoenaerts

Review By Greg Klymkiw

Cousin Marv (James Gsndolfini in his last screen appearance) owns one of those warm, dark, well-lived-in neighbourhood Brooklyn taverns that feels like a home away from home for its working class patrons. You know the joint. Every burgh has them. It's a place to catch a game on the TV above the bar and shoot the shit with your best buds. The place is full of memories, most of them good. Some, however, are not so good.

Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy) is the quiet personable bartender, a neighbourhood boy with the kind of two-fisted warmth you'd be likely to find in a Rocky Balboa-type, not in the ring, but rather the dirty, mean streets. Yeah, Bob's a thug, but at first glance, you'd never guess. You could know him your whole life and never know it.

Bob is certainly a far cry from the repellent Eric Deeds (Matthias Schoenaerts, brilliant star of director Roskam's great first feature Bullhead), a loudmouthed braggart and overall slime bag who pumped up his street-cred in prison by admitting to the killing of an old pal of Bob's. Deeds also used to date local gal Nadia (Noomi Rapace). She unwisely gave him the benefit of the doubt and suffered his mental and physical abuse upon her.

The paths of all four inevitably cross in screenwriter Dennis Lehane's solid character-driven crime drama that's directed with the low-key, slow-burn styling Michaël R. Roskam brought to the very odd and chilling Belgian crime thriller Bullhead in 2011. It's a tale of redemption and revenge that often feels familiar, but every so often, confounds you by taking turns in the plot that are almost always unexpected.

What feels initially like a heist picture and mystery when Cousin Marv's bar is held-up by masked thugs, transforms into a gentle romance that begins with Bob and Nadia discovering an abused Pit Bull puppy her front yard trash can.

What ultimately drives everything though are the demands made of Marv by the vile Chechen mobsters who use the bar as a drop point to launder their dirty money. The thugs, you see, have made off with mafia money and the gangsters are holding Marv responsible.

As the elements of this tale unravel in a slow, deliberate fashion, with emphasis placed on getting to know the protagonists amidst an extremely danger-fraught situation, the film eventually builds to a climax of almost unbearable suspense and shocking violence. We can feel the lava roiling and we know there's going to be an eruption, but the degree to which the molten elements of Lehane's great writing explodes surpasses all expectations.

It's what makes The Drop so good - familiarity with the tropes of the genre that keep being skewed.

The Drop is Roskam's first film in America and proves to be a fine sophomore work from a director who already proved to be a stylish talent to watch with his previous film, but now, after happily lucking out with a superbly-written script by the first-rate Lehane, he's solidly placed himself at the forefront of foreign directors who might well be the saviours of contemporary American cinema.

You can't really argue with that.

THE FILM CORNER RATING: ***1/2

The Drop has its World Premiere as a Special Presentation at TIFF 2014. For further info visit TIFF's website HERE. Distributor is Fox Searchlight Pictures.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ORDER ANYTHING FROM AMAZON BY USING THE LINKS BELOW. CLICKING ON THEM AND THEN CLICKING THROUGH TO ANYTHING WILL ALLOW YOU TO ORDER AND IN SO DOING, SUPPORT THE ONGING MAINTENANCE OF THE FILM CORNER.

AMAZON.CA

AMAZON.COM

AMAZON.UK