''The Birth Of A Nation'' was a crucial breakthrough in cinema history: the first to break out of the short-filmed-play box and stand on its own as a movie. It also glorifies the Ku Klux Klan and contains some of the most racist images imaginable of black people. ''Triumph of the Will: Special Edition'' is a brilliantly filmed ad campaign -- and what it's selling is Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Both films are on DVD. Why would you ever consider watching them?
Well, D.W. Griffith developed the language of film we still live with -- the close-ups, the cutaways -- and ''Birth of a Nation'' is the movie where he put it all together. The uproar when it was first released (the NAACP, among others, threatened a boycott) is also of import, although since the Image DVD lacks scholarly commentary, you won't get the full story. A filmed record of the 1934 Nazi Party Convention at Nuremberg, Leni Riefenstahl's ''Triumph'' remains a chilling, visually mesmerizing example of the Wagnerian propaganda that got Hitler elected in the first place; as such it's useful in understanding modern-day despots like Milosevic and even bin Laden (the DVD does have a commentary track, and a dandy one). But the best reason to watch these two films today? Easy: Know thy enemy.
You Might Also Like
- Movie Commentary Most controversial movies: Nos. 6-10 (Dec 18, 1956)
- Movie News Hot-button movies: ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915)
- Hot Topic The latest about the Directors Guild controversy (1915) | Mark Harris
- DVD Commentary Essential DVDs of the 1890's - 1920s
- Movie News Commercial film flops with video comebacks (1916) | Gregg Kilday
- Movie Commentary Legacy: Lillian Gish | Ty Burr
