About this episode
In the first episode of What Makes It Great, we tackle a truly terrible piece of American cinema (and one that is sadly still relevant today), D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation from 1915. This is an extremely racist movie about the Civil War and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Many issues discussed are ones we are still seeing in the news today. This film was ranked as the #44 Greatest Film of All-Time on the original AFI list and was removed from the updated 10th Anniversary list. Hear our thoughts on the filmmaking and the terrible ideas presented in The Birth of a Nation.