Teaser trailer for The Birth of a Nation, starring Nate Parker, Armie Hammer and Jackie Earle Haley.
Set against the antebellum South, The Birth of a Nation follows Nat Turner (Nate Parker), a literate slave and preacher, whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer), accepts an offer to use Nat's preaching to subdue unruly slaves. As he witnesses countless atrocities -- against himself and his fellow slaves -- Nat orchestrates an uprising in the hopes of leading his people to freedom.
If you haven't heard of The Birth of a Nation just yet, you certainly will. The film was a massive hit at the Sundance Film Festival and was quickly purchased by Fox Searchlight for $!7.5 million, the biggest deal in the festival's long-running history.
A passion project for Nate Parker, who directs and stars, the actor started writing the film about Nat Turner all the way back in 2009, and invested $100,000 of his own money to get production started.
A great investment, considering The Birth of a Nation not only saw a standing ovation before it's premiere, but received what Variety called "the most enthusiastic standing ovation" at Sundance.
Now that we have the teaser trailer for The Birth of a Nation, it is easy to see why some have likened the film to 12 Years a Slave. While the story is only similar, the visuals would make one think that the same cinematographer who did 12 Years had a role in this remake.
And, when it comes to the visuals, this first teaser trailer for The Birth of a Nation seems more focused on showcasing the cinematography than present any real dialogue from the film. Yes, we get to hear a couple of er, sermons from Nate Parker, but that's about it in terms of character dialogue. It's fine however, considering that Fox Searchlight has another six months to get this film ready for a theatrical release with a couple more trailers sure to be released along the way.
Plus, by sticking only to visuals, it will put a delay on people who like debating the historical accuracy of films such as this.