Public Domain Movies | Birth of a Nation
The film is set before, during, and after the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. It primarily follows two families: the Northern Stonemans and the Southern Camerons. The Stonemans are abolitionist and pro-Union, while the Camerons are Southern and sympathetic to the Confederacy.
The film begins with the friendship between the two families and the courtship of two of their children, Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall) from the South and Elsie Stoneman (Lillian Gish) from the North. The outbreak of the Civil War leads to a separation of the families as they take opposing sides.
Following the war, the Reconstruction era is depicted as chaotic and corrupt, with newly freed African Americans shown as politically and socially inept. The film portrays the rise of the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force to restore order and protect the white Southern population.
Ben Cameron forms the Klan and engages in violent activities against African Americans, depicting them as a threat to white society. The film climaxes with a racially charged conflict as the Klan rescues Elsie Stoneman from a supposed threat posed by a biracial politician, Silas Lynch (George Siegmann) (1915).
Director: D.W. Griffith
Stars: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall
