Birth of a Nation: From Best Picture Favorite to Studio Liability

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I don't know if anyone else has been following this. A bizarre roller coaster ride has ensued after Birth of a Nation director Nate Parker has had former rape allegations resurface. It is a really sad story.

Here is the basic gist. Parker was seen as an up and coming black actor/writer/director. His slavery revolt movie "Birth of a Nation" was supposed to contend for an Oscar and provide the Academy a way to make amends for the all white Oscars last year. It has a black writer, director and star and is about slavery freedom fighters.

Fox Searchlight paid $17m after the movie blew up at Sundance.

Except then it was revealed that Parker, the film's writer/director, and his cowriter, had been accused of rape in 1999.

All hell has since broken loose.

As a 17-year-old rape charge, for which the director-star was acquitted, resurfaces, Fox Searchlight is standing by its plans for the movie's October opening, which now faces new challenges.

Fox Searchlight is standing by its plans for a nationwide October release for Nate Parker's Sundance Film Festival sensation The Birth of a Nation, according to studio insiders - despite the mounting media storm focusing on the trial in which Parker and the movie's co-writer Jean Celestin were charged with raping a young woman in 1999 when all three were students at Pennsylvania State University.

Although Parker was acquitted (Celestin, who was convicted, saw his case overturned on appeal), Parker's planned central role in promoting the movie is now in question. As writer, director, producer and star of the film about the slave revolt led by Nat Turner in 1831, Parker was to serve as the pic's primary promoter. He has been expected to embark on an ambitious roadshow promoting The Birth of a Nation in as many as 40 churches and universities around the country.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that the accuser, a woman also attending Penn State at the time, had later dropped out of school and eventually made several suicide attempts. She died at the age of 30 in 2012.

Police arrested the pair in 1999 after an unnamed freshman student alleged that together, they had raped her while she lay unconscious in Parker’s apartment.

Parker was eventually acquitted during a trial, while Celestin was convicted and sentenced to six months behind bars. The conviction was later overturned on appeal when prosecutors declined to pursue the case, citing difficulties in gathering all the necessary witnesses.

The accuser, who had been ready to testify, received a $17,000 settlement from the university a decade later. She committed suicide in 2012, according to family members.

And because there will be no separating Parker from Birth of a Nation, no matter what strategy Searchlight ultimately employs, the film now has to be considered very problematic. Says Nasatir: "This is going to set off a thing in this town the likes of which we've never seen."

"I've been following the case. I read the transcripts and the comments of the girl who died. When I was having my hair done last week, even my hairdresser was livid. Other people haven't heard about it yet, but it's going to unfold in a very big way. They need a Ray Donovan guy in there to fix this because there's so much money invested in this movie. I will probably see it because I try to see everything. But I have to admit, I'm going to go in with a very biased attitude toward this guy because I think what he and the co-writer did to this girl was terrible — especially how they harassed her after she reported their behavior. They got off, but they are not innocent. Parker stands behind his wife and his five daughters, but that doesn't wash with me.

Emphasis added.

There are more articles out there that describe the alleged crime in more detail but suffice to say it follows a patter we've all heard before. Drinking, passing out, no memory and accusations for rape while unconscious or barely conscious.

The fight between supporters of diversity (like Al Sharpton who supports Parker) and rape culture is getting ugly. Regardless of the Oscar status of the movie, I think it is clear, nobody is going to win in the long run.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rac...-parker-922210

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...-parker-921729

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...parkers-920478

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...-nation-920144

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Sorry about the formatting. I can't properly edit the OP due to some weird character issue that happens when I put quotes in my posts.

Edit: Did my best to fix it up.

[FireGilbert]

I was confused about the title of this movie. I thought Birth of a Nation was a racist film from the 1910s and didn't understand why it would ever be remade, especially by an African American director.

Was the title some form of irony to give an anti-racism/slavery film the same title as a racist film or it is just a coincidence?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Was the title some form of irony to give an anti-racism/slavery film the same title as a racist film or it is just a coincidence?

Yes, it was deliberate.


This is from the Trivia section of the film's IMDB page:

The 2016 film, The Birth of a Nation (2016), uses the same title as "the title of D.W. Griffith's 1915 KKK propaganda film in a very purposeful way", said The Hollywood Reporter. Nate Parker said his film had the same title "ironically, but very much by design". He told the magazine Filmmaker, "Griffith's film [The Birth of a Nation (1915)] relied heavily on racist propaganda to evoke fear and desperation as a tool to solidify white supremacy as the lifeblood of American sustenance. Not only did this film motivate the massive resurgence of the terror group the Ku Klux Klan and the carnage exacted against people of African descent, it served as the foundation of the film industry we know today. I've reclaimed this title and re-purposed it as a tool to challenge racism and white supremacy in America, to inspire a riotous disposition toward any and all injustice in this country (and abroad) and to promote the kind of honest confrontation that will galvanize our society toward healing and sustained systemic change."

[bigtmac19]

It is one of the headliners at TIFF this year. I was surprised that they continue to support it although they have cancelled the associated press conference.