A junket interview between Nate Parker and a Canadian journalist was cut short after the reporter asked a question about how Fox Searchlight might have “changed their strategy” for The Birth of a Nation in the wake of Parker’s 1999 rape trial becoming a major news story.
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Parker is front-and-centre in the film, as director, co-writer and lead star, in the role of Nat Turner, an American-born slave turned preacher who led an 1831 slave rebellion in Virginia that is seen as an important step toward the eventual abolition of slavery in the U.S.
“I’ve addressed and I’m sure in different forms I’ll address it more”, he said.
The allegation is that 19-year-old Parker and his Penn State roommate Jean McGianni Celestin – who shares a story credit on “Birth of a Nation” – had a threesome with an intoxicated young woman, who others claimed was drunk to the point of slurring her words and stumbling around. Although Parker was acquitted of all charges in 2001, Celestin was convicted, though his verdict was later overturned on appeal.
The world was ready to hear Nate Parker’s story, but Nate Parker wasn’t quite ready to tell it. But Parker used the opportunity not to address questions over the case, but to deflect them. “There are movies I sit out, so I understand and I’d be a hypocrite to say I don’t”. It’s not mine, I don’t own it, it does not belong to me.
On Friday, Toronto audiences welcomed Birth of a Nation with a two-minute standing ovation.
In an interview with Variety last month, Parker said, “17 years ago, I experienced a very painful moment in my life. And I think it would be a shame if people didn’t get to see this movie and judge for themselves and form their opinion”. Over 400 people made this film. Of the film’s subject matter, Parker explained, “I was so inspired by his story that when I became an actor and decided I would start writing, I felt like this was a story that I felt historically speaking could really promote the kind of healing we need and the conversation around race”.
Parker was also asked if he still planned a promotional tour across college campuses for the film, and if he would raise issues about sexual assault.
When asked about the reaction to her op-ed, Union said, “five percent feels I threw Nate under the bus, and five percent feels I’m a rape apologist”.
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Actress Gabrielle Union has been a vocal advocate for spreading awareness about the ugly realities of rape culture throughout the course of her career and she’s once again using her platform to keep the much-needed conversation going. Perhaps it will ink film history with the same notoriety as the racist 1915 movie of the same name, but remind us that things weren’t always this calm, injustice wasn’t a mere racial insult, or a flame war on twitter, it was right outside our homes, a nation born from blood and bigotry, where violence overshadowed everything, even God. Samuel turns to alcohol, perhaps he needs to drown his conscience in booze, and Nat begins shedding tears as he preaches.
