The Birth of a Nation (2016) on Netflix
In Southampton County, Virginia, Nat Turner is an enslaved preacher. His owner, Samuel Turner, accepts payment to send him preaching elsewhere, and what he sees turns him toward revolt.
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- IMDb6.6/1022,772 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes73%
Trailer
Plot summary
Taught to read from the Bible by Elizabeth Turner as a boy, Nat Turner grows up enslaved in Southampton County, Virginia, and becomes known for his preaching. His father, Isaac, flees the plantation after a confrontation with the slave-catcher Raymond Cobb. Samuel Turner inherits the plantation where Nat lives, and Nat persuades him to buy Cherry at a slave auction; Nat and Cherry marry and have a daughter, Joanna. When crop prices fall, Reverend Walthall proposes that Samuel travel with Nat to preach to enslaved people on other plantations for payment, sermons meant to keep them subdued. Samuel agrees. On those journeys Nat witnesses the mistreatment of enslaved people on other plantations.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Birth of a Nation (2016)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- After finishing his acting job on Beyond the Lights in late 2013, Nate Parker told his agents he would take no further acting work until he had played Nat Turner, and spent $100,000 of his own money on a production designer and location scouting in Savannah, Georgia.
- Fox Searchlight's Sundance deal for Nate Parker's debut was, The Hollywood Reporter said, not merely the biggest in the festival's history but the largest sum ever paid for a finished film at any festival; Variety called it the richest Sundance deal on record.
- Press coverage during the festival run revived a 1999 rape accusation against Parker and co-story writer Jean McGianni Celestin, and the death of their accuser in 2012. Parker had been acquitted and Celestin was never retried after his conviction was overturned, but the affair cast a shadow over the film.
