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****
Dir: Nate Parker (15, 120 mins)
A searing, passionate account of the life of little known Nat Turner, a literate slave and Baptist preacher and his 1831 uprising against white oppression which paved the way for the American Civil War decades later. Nate Parker writes, directs and stars as Turner, brought up in slavery in Virginia with forward thinking slave owners. He marries and has children before the true harshness of life amidst the white population is brought home to him, as he is force to preach peace to his fellow black slaves even as horrific atrocities are vista upon them. His preaching soon takes a more revolutionary stance. Capitalism and religion are clearly combined, religion supposedly being used to keep the subservient status quo, and Turner wrestles with his beliefs and also his need to fight back. Violence becomes inevitable. Complex, brutal and important, {The Birth of a Nation} is necessary viewing.
Out Dec 9