Nate Parker’s ‘The Birth of a Nation’ a powerful achievement

Director, writer, and actor Nate Parker poses for a portrait to promote the film, "The Birth of a Nation," at the Toyota Mirai Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 25, 2016 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP) Director, writer, and actor Nate Parker poses for a portrait to promote the film, "The Birth of a Nation," at the Toyota Mirai Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 25, 2016 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)

By Associated Press January 26, 2016 3 min read

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) – Nate Parker left a successful Hollywood acting career behind to make the movie that mattered most to him.

It took seven years for Parker to bring the story of slave rebellion leader Nat Turner to the screen. “The Birth of a Nation” premiered Monday at the Sundance Film Festival.

“I’ve poured everything that I am into making it,” the writer/director/actor/producer said following an uproarious standing ovation. “I made this film for one reason, with hope of creating change agents, that people could watch this film and be affected.”

Turner was a slave who taught himself to read and became a preacher, bringing profits to his owner as he delivered God’s word to slaves throughout the state. But those travels showed him such injustice and cruelty that he had to act, and he led a violent rebellion that wiped out 60 slave owners.

“The Birth of a Nation” is a beautiful, painful and powerful film that juxtaposes pastoral settings with inhumane violence. Elliot Davis’ cinematography captures the ethereal natural settings of the American south and the heartbreaking brutality of slavery.