As an avid movie watcher and reviewer, I never let the personal lives of filmmakers alter the way I critique a film. What an actor or director does when the cameras aren’t rolling has no effect on the quality of the film they’re making.
However, “The Birth of a Nation” is a rare case where I cannot separate the art from the artist.
The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and then generated $8 million in sales at the box office after its nationwide release Oct. 7, tells the true story of slave Nat Turner who, in 1831, led a rebellion with fellow slaves against their owners. Nate Parker starred, directed and co-wrote the movie.
The film has received critical acclaim, winning the Audience Award at Sundance and scoring a 77 percent approval rating from critics on the website Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film and its director have been the subject of controversy in the months leading up to its release.
In 1999, Parker and film co-writer Jean Celestin were accused of raping an intoxicated classmate while attending Penn State University, as reported by The New York Times. Parker was acquitted in 2001 while Celestin was found guilty of sexual assault. Celestin’s conviction was later vacated.
According to the Times, the trial was followed by a civil suit brought by the accuser against Penn State, alleging Parker and Celestin harassed her and the school failed to discipline them. The suit was settled with Penn State for $17,500.
All the while, Parker has maintained his innocence. “I was falsely accused,” he said in an interview with “Good Morning America.”
“I was proven innocent and I’m not going to apologize for that,” he said. Parker also said this wasn’t about him, and that the focus should be on Turner.
Normally, I would agree with Parker. We should focus on the importance of Turner’s story and not the legal troubles of the people behind the film. However, Parker has seemed to alter history in “The Birth of a Nation,” and what’s added seems eerily similar.
In the film, three white men rape Turner’s wife, Cherry Turner. This assault motivates Turner to lead his rebellion to avenge his wife. This has come under scrutiny due to the fictionalization of the rape.
“There’s no reference to that,” Clark history professor Van Forsyth said after researching Turner. According to Forsyth, Turner was a deeply religious man, and reportedly saw “signs of God” urging him to rebel.
Damaging message
Although Turner was married in his 20s, Forsyth, whose expertise is in U.S. history, said that Turner and his wife were separated because they were sold to different owners.
With the inclusion of a fictional rape in his film, it feels like Parker is distorting history to declare his innocence once and for all.
“This kind of portrayal reinforces the idea that men’s experiences matter more than women,” Clark women’s studies professor Kushlani de Soyza wrote in an email. “It implies that the central problem with sexual violence against women is that it damages another man’s property.”
De Soyza also said that depicting rape as a simple plot point is flat-out wrong, “especially when a writer or filmmaker uses women’s suffering as a way to glorify or motivate male characters.”
These allegations resurfaced while promoting the film. The controversy reached its boiling point when Variety reported that Parker and Celestin’s accuser committed suicide in 2012. This caused the American Film Institute to cancel its screening of the film in August, and rape activist groups held a silent protest with a candlelight vigil recently at ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood.
As someone who reviews films, I try my best to not let the personal life of an actor or a filmmaker sway my opinion when critiquing. “The Birth of a Nation” is a rare exception. Given how Parker is both the face and brain behind the film, and how he’s altered history in his movie to shine a better light on his character, I cannot support this film.
Turner’s story is important and should be taught, but in a way that’s respectful and accurate to what actually happened.
Dustin Kogler is a Clark College student, where he is a staff writer and film reviewer for the student newspaper, the Clark College Independent.
