With not-so-civil disobedience, Nat Turner forcefully fought for his people’s freedom more than 100 years before there was such a thing as a civil rights movement.
He has his story told in brutal, unrelenting yet masterful fashion by director/star Nate Parker in The Birth of a Nation (**** out of four; rated R; in theaters Friday nationwide), which chronicles a violent uprising of slaves in 1831 Virginia. While it has been overshadowed offscreen by past rape allegations surrounding Parker, the drama isn’t an easy watch, either from the standpoint of tortured blacks or in their white owners’ climactic comeuppance. Still, Parker crafts the narrative in a way that immerses audiences in the heartbreaking though redemptive emotional journey of the conflicted main character.