Answer:
The Birth of a Nation is an American film directed by D. W. Griffith, released in 1915. Released exactly 50 years after the end of the Civil War, it tells of the development of this war and Reconstruction in a southernist way. It was discussed by its racist judging speech and its support for the Ku Klux Klan.
The Birth of a Nation tells the story of the American civil war from the perspective of a Northern and a Southern state family, where sympathy lies with the Southern State family. The first half is a dramatic portrayal of the Civil War, while the second half focuses on "the horrors of Reconstruction" where plantation owners are assaulted by black land workers. The plantation owners are portrayed as innocent and the black land workers as treacherous and barbaric. A young Southern state maid escapes from an ex-slave who will either marry her or assault her. Instead of being defiled by the black man, the young girl jumps off a cliff. Her awareness of the Southern Code of Honor compels her to death, which according to the film is glorious and honorable. Her brother subsequently forms the Ku Klux Klan and avenges her death.
The film expresses a racism that, among other things, led to violent riots with the dead and wounded at the first screening. However, this only enhanced the commercial success of the film, which is why it is said to form the basis of the American feature film. The black population of Birth of a Nation is portrayed as primitive criminals, and Republicans are described as unsympathetic collaborators, whereas the Ku Klux Klan is described as the righteous corps of honorable Americans.
